Born on This Day in 1944, the Singing Satirist and Politician Who Spoofed Merle Haggard and Styled Himself After Mark Twain

Kinky Friedman, the irreverent Texas singer-songwriter and satirist who claimed to be the first Jew to star at the Grand Ole Opry, was born on this day in 1944. Friedman died June 27, 2024, at age 79.

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Remembering Kinky Friedman

Born Richard Friedman in Chicago, the outlaw country artist moved to the Texas Hill Country with his family as a child. He formed his first band, King Arthur & the Carrots, while studying psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. By 1973, he was helming his second band, which he named Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys much to the chagrin of his father.

“I said, ‘That’s a terrible name. It’s a negative, hostile, peculiar thing, and if you called somebody that, it would be an insult,’ ” Tom Friedman told CBS News in 2005. “He said, ‘That’s great. That’s what I wanted.’”

That eagerness to push buttons would come to define Kinky Friedman’s legacy. The group became known for songs with titles like  “They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed.” (The latter earned Friedman the “Male Chauvinist Pig Award” from the National Organization for Women.) He also recorded a cover of Chinga Chavin’s “A–hole from El Paso,” which spoofed Merle Haggard’s timeless “Okie from Muskogee.”

Later, Friedman would join Bob Dylan on the latter’s Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

[RELATED: Kinky Friedman, Singer, Songwriter, and Satirist, Has Died at 79]

A Politician and Philanthropist

In addition to penning detective novels and a regular column for Texas Monthly, Kinky Friedman—who styled himself in the mold of Mark Twain and Will Rogers—would throw his trademark black cowboy hat into several political rings. The most public of these bids came in 2006, when Friedman ran as an Independent in the Texas gubernatorial race. While unsuccessful, he managed to capture nearly 13 percent of the vote.

 “He leaves a legacy of laughter, music, loyalty, mercy, tolerance, servitude, and wisdom,” Friedman’s friend Kent Perkins said after his death. “He was famous as a best-selling author, humorist, songwriter, and singer. But we, his close friends and family, knew him as a rescuer of unwanted dogs and cats, a compassionate, philanthropic, soft-spoken man who devoted much of his life to serving others less fortunate.”

Featured image by Gary Miller/Getty Images