Search - Kinky Friedman :: Why The Hell Not...The Songs Of Kinky Friedman

No entertainer has gotten more mileage out of recycling material than Kinky Friedman. Since his musical career peaked in the 1970s, the self-proclaimed Kinkster has transferred lines from his songs--and one-liners from his performances--into a series of mystery novels, magazine columns, and, most recently, an independent campaign to become governor of Texas. This revival of Kinky's material takes its title from one of Friedman's campaign slogans (another is "How hard could it be?") and four of its ten cuts from Pearls in the Snow, Friedman's previously released, self-commissioned tribute album. While that earlier release focused on Friedman's non-satirical material--with Lyle Lovett wringing every once of pathos from "Sold American" and Willie Nelson bringing a tender touch to "Ride 'Em Jewboy"--this album highlights some of Friedman's more outrageous material. A hard-driving "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore," a song designed to offend just about everyone, finds Todd Snider updating the lyrics as if Friedman's election were already a done deal. The raucous "Home Erectus" teams Asleep at the Wheel's Ray Benson with upstarts Reckless Kelly, while "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven (And Your Buns in the Bed)," Friedman's satirical slam of women's lib, gets a hard-twanging, honky-tonk treatment from Kevin Fowler. Whether Friedman is employing his notoriety as an entertainer to enhance his political prospects or using the campaign to raise his popular profile, it's all performance art. --Don McLeese