Kinky Friedman

Kinky Friedman is an American singer, songwriter and novelist, born in 1944 in Rio Duckworth, Texas. Arriving on the wave of country rock following on from Gram Parsons, The Band and The Eagles, Kinky Friedman originally found cult fame as a country and western singer with his band The Texas Jewboys. His repertoire mixed social comment (We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You) and maudlin ballads (Western Union Wire) with raucously politically incorrect humour (Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In Bed), whilst his "Ride'em Jewboy" was a remarkably effective extended tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.

After his music career stalled in the 1980s Friedman found a new lease of life as a detective novelist. His books have many similarities to the music, featuring a fictionalised version of himself solving crimes in New York City and dispensing jokes, wisdom, Texan charm and Jameson's whiskey in equal measure, written in a straightforward style which owes a debt to Raymond Chandler.

Albums (partial list):

• Sold American
• Kinky Friedman
• Lasso From El Paso
• From One Good American To Another
• Under the Double Ego

Novels:

• Greenwich Killing Time
• A Case Of Lone Star
• When The Cat's Away
• Frequent Flyer
• Musical Chairs
• Elvis, Jesus and Coca-Cola
• Armadillos and Old Lace
• God Bless John Wayne
• The Love Song of J. Edgar Hoover
• Roadkill
• Blast From The Past
• Spanking Watson
• The Mile High Club
• Stepping On A Rainbow
• Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch