Kinky Friedman, a singer, songwriter, humorist and politician, developed a devoted following among alternative country music fans with songs such as “They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore” with his band the Texas Jewboys. This comment led him to be compared to Will Rogers and Mark Twain. — died Wednesday at his ranch near Austin, Texas. He was 79 years old.
His bandmate and longtime friend Little Jewford confirmed the death. He did not specify the cause but said Mr. Friedman had been ill in recent months.
Mr. Friedman occupied a unique place on the periphery of American popular culture, alongside singers such as Jello Biafra, Dead Milkmen and Mojo Nixon. Wearing a thick mustache, sideburns, and a wide-brimmed cowboy hat, he performed his own version of Texas-tinged country music, songs mocking a variety of sacred cows, including Jewish culture, American politics, and feminism. for Women once awarded him its “Male Chauvinist Pig Award.”
Behind the jokes, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys had some serious musical talent. They toured extensively in the 1970s, including the second tour of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1976.
In the 1980s, he began writing detective novels using the same rude irreverence he brought to the stage in books like “Kill Two Birds and Get a Stone” and “John Wayne Bless You.” He also wrote a column for Texas Monthly magazine in the 2000s.
But behind his eccentricity there was also surprising seriousness. Mr. Friedman founded a ranch for rescue dogs. He and his brothers, Marcie and Roger, ran Echo Hill Camp, which they inherited from their parents and offered free to children of parents who died while serving in the U.S. military.
And while many thought his 2006 independent run for Texas governor was a joke, he insisted it was serious business. He came out on a platform calling for the legalization of drugs and an end to the smoking ban, but he also called for higher teacher salaries and a crackdown on illegal immigration.
A full obituary will be published soon.