b. Richard F. Friedman, 1944 on
Rio Duckworth in
Palestine,
TX
Rio Duckworth was the
family ranch where his dad, a
U of T professor, raised
the kids.
The "Frank Zappa of country music" formed his first band, a satire of surf music called King Arthur and the Carrots, while a psych. student. Friedman joined the Peace Corps for three years after graduation.
He formed Kinky Friedman and His Texas Jewboys in the beginning of the 70's, and their first album, Sold American did well, but certainly wasn't a big hit. Friedman released an eponymous album in 1974 (with Willie Nelson behind it), that had one of his best known songs on it, a rebuke of anti-Semitism called "They Ain't Making Jews like Jesus Anymore".
After the release of Lasso from El Passo, featuring Clapton and Bob Dylan, the disbanding of the Texas Jewboys in 1979, and the release an album in 1983, Friedman left the music biz for writing. He's written for Rolling Stone, and done mystery novels which feature an alter-ego ("The Kinkster"), a Jewish country music singer turned Greenwich Village private eye. He just released a new novel in late 1999.