I was saddened to read that Kinky Friedman died a few days ago.<\/p>\n
I first encountered his music back in the 70s, and always remained fond of it.\u00a0\u00a0 Kinky was one of the originals, one\u00a0 of\u00a0 the “Outlaw Country” movement that grew out of Austin, in reaction to the more traditional country music of Nashville.\u00a0\u00a0 Willie Nelson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, those were the outlaw kings back then.\u00a0\u00a0 Kinky was the court jester.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 He was best known for his irreverent satirical pieces, like “The Ballad of Charles Whitman,” “Put Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed,”\u00a0 “They Ain’t Making Jews Like Jesus Any More,” and the like, which inevitably provoked screams of outrage from the humor impaired, but he also wrote more serious tunes, some of them really fine.\u00a0\u00a0 “Sold American,” “Silver Eagle” (a damn fine railroad song), “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” and this one here, a personal favorite.<\/p>\n