Most country music is geared toward tear-in-the-beer stylings, but no other country album makes me sob into my Budweiser quite like Sold American. And not because it’s overtly sad “ Kinky Friedman is a fearless humorist who turns racist rednecks and rough treatment into comedic gold “ but because too much of this 1973 album still rings true nearly four decades later. In the vein of comedians like Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx, Friedman shines a bright light on the bigoted, hypocritical underbelly of the land of the free, and uses every taboo word in the book to get the effect he’s after.

Kinky Friedman¦ is on his way to becoming the first Texas-Jewish country music star, proclaims Newsweek from the back of the album cover. And if the delicious absurdity of that statement appeals to you, the songs surely will too. ˜We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You’ recounts Friedman being slurred and insulted out of a bullethead cafe by an intolerant restaurateur. ˜Highway Cafe’ has a chorus of oh make it a corned beef on rye and features two rednecks recounting a fatal trucking accident with infectious dumb laughter (AHAHAHAHA AHEEHEEHEEHEE). ˜Get Your Biscuits In The Oven And Your Buns In The Bed’ is an anti-feminist rant the likes of which is unimaginable today, while the title track is a wistful, beautiful ballad about a fading America, that could serve as the theme song for PBS’ Antiques Roadshow. Like the rest of Sold American, ˜Ride ˜Em Jewboy’ is both lovely and ludicrous.

In 2006, Friedman mounted a serious, and seriously offbeat, campaign for governor of Texas. Campaign slogans included He ain’t Kinky, he’s my Governor and My governor is a Jewish Cowboy and Friedman qualified himself thusly: Musicians can run this state better than politicians. We won’t get a lot done in the mornings, but we’ll work late and be honest. He pulled a respectable 12.6% of the vote and finished fourth out of six candidates. Friedman might be a funny Jewish cowboy, but he’s a also a thoughtful, driven Texan who has made Lone Star statements like If you ain’t Texan, I ain’t got time for you.

Like his politics, Friedman’s music might appear silly, but it’s ultimately serious stuff. His band featured top-notch Nashville session musicians like guitarist Norman Blake and pianist David Briggs, and this music is as polished as a new mandolin. But nobody else in Nashville (or anywhere else for that matter) was singing ballads about Texas Clock Tower shooter Charles Whitman or suggesting we roll Jesus into a big fat doobie and get high on religion. Friedman’s funny, but in the end the joke’s on us “ racism, mass murder, religious intolerance, misogyny, hyper-materialism. Kinky Friedman may have held his fun house mirror up to this country in 1973, but the songs remain the same¦

“Sold American”

Original Vinyl | 1973 | Vanguard | search ebay ]
CD Reissue | 2003 | Vanguard | buy at amazon ]