Kinky Friedman, the tongue-in-cheek humorist and alt-country musician of the Texas Jewboys, has died, bandmate Little Jewford confirmed to The New York Instances. “Kinky Friedman stepped on a rainbow at his beloved Echo Hill surrounded by household & buddies,” reads a press release posted to the late artist’s social media. “Kinkster endured super ache & unthinkable loss in recent times however he by no means misplaced his preventing spirit and fast wit. Kinky will stay on as his books are learn and his songs are sung.” Friedman was 79.

Born Richard Samet Friedman on Halloween in 1944, he was raised by his dad and mom—each the youngsters of Russian Jewish immigrants—in Chicago, Illinois, earlier than the household moved to Texas Hill Nation when Friedman was a younger boy. Whereas majoring in psychology at College of Texas at Austin, Friedman shaped his first band, the surf-rock parody group King Arthur & the Carrots, whetting his urge for food for satirical music. He graduated in 1966 together with his diploma and the nickname “Kinky,” given to him by fellow pupil and musician Chinga Chavin for his curly hair.

Come 1973, he began Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, a rustic rock group bent on parodying taboo topics and on a regular basis matters alike. Friedman initially discovered underground fame as a Western singer, and a charmed Commander Cody (of Commander Cody and His Misplaced Planet Airmen) related him with Vanguard Music, on which Friedman launched his debut, Bought American. The subsequent yr, Kinky Friedman, the highest-charting album of his profession, got here out on ABC Information. After releasing Lasso From El Paso, in 1976, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys have been invited to open the second leg of Bob Dylan’s famed Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

With the Texas Jewboys, Friedman usually sang about taking satisfaction in his Jewish heritage, usually funneled by way of raucous jokes (“They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore”) and sometimes sobering tributes (“Trip ’Em Jewboy”). His lyrics additionally took goal at social prejudices (“We Reserve the Proper to Refuse Service to You”), mass shooters (“The Ballad of Charles Whitman”), and feminism (“Get Your Biscuits within the Oven and Your Buns into Mattress”), amongst different matters.

Whereas Friedman’s lyrics have been supposed to lampoon topics, not everybody was laughing. Throughout a 1973 live performance in Buffalo, New York, a bunch of ladies whom Friedman described as “cranked-up lesbians” received right into a struggle together with his band throughout their efficiency of “Get Your Biscuits within the Oven and Your Buns into Mattress,” forcing the present to finish early. Later that yr, the Nationwide Group for Ladies awarded Friedman the Male Chauvinist Pig Award, a lot to his delight. Two years later, Buffy Sainte-Marie stormed the stage at Friedman’s San Francisco present to grab the struggle bonnet off his head; Friedman had donned the garment whereas performing “Miss Nickelodeon,” a tune parodying Indigenous folks.