Kinky Friedman, Texan humorist, country singer, writer and “equality sinner” – obituary

There he played guitar, wrote country songs, and returned home in 1971 to form Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. The band recorded over a dozen albums, beginning with 1973’s “Sold American,” which included such tracks as “High on Jesus” and “Ride ‘Em Jewboy,” a “lengthy tribute” to the victims of the Holocaust.

Unfortunately, although he attracted fans such as Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and Willie Nelson (with whom he played chess), the mainstream remained unimpressed. Friedman’s chances of success were not helped by his increasing cocaine addiction, and the band broke up in 1979.

After moving to New York, he played small solo shows in Greenwich Village. In 1986, in an ultimately successful attempt to kick his drug habit, he returned to his family’s Echo Hill Ranch in Texas, where he did laundry for the camp instead of earning rent.

With his musical career stalling, Friedman turned to fiction. The result was Greenwich Killing Time (1986), which introduced Kinky Friedman as a detective. Living in a trailer on the campground with only a cat and an armadillo for company, he wrote about 20 crime novels and a number of other books.

“At the moment,” he told the Telegraph in 2000, “I’m writing a non-fiction book called Kinky Friedman’s Guide to Texas Etiquette. It’s quite short, about the same length as Black Yachtsmen I Have Known.”

He continued to release solo albums and sometimes toured with the newly formed Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys. He made several tours of Europe, mixing readings, jokes and classics such as They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore. He especially enjoyed touring Germany, joking, “The Germans are my second favorite people… Of course, I like all the others best.”

Back in Texas, he founded an animal rescue center and helped save more than 1,000 elderly and abandoned dogs. He ran unsuccessfully for the state’s Secretary of Agriculture in 2010 and 2014.

Friedman has never married and declares: “I am not against marriage. I am against my marriage.”

Kinky Friedman, born November 1, 1944, died June 26, 2024