Governor of the Heart of Texas Kinky Friedman has been resurrected. And he’s hitting the road to prove it. The legendary outlaw country singer/songwriter, novelist and self-styled Texas Jewboy’s latest album, The Loneliest Man I Ever Met (Avenue A Records/Thirty Tigers), mixing originals with interpretations of the music of his greatest contemporaries, has been a hit since its 2015 release. It received rave reviews across the board, making it Kinky’s best and most popular effort ever. Yes, the Kinkster has been resurrected. And he’s heading to Blairstown for a special performance on Friday April 21 at Roy’s Hall.
Joining Friedman for part of his national tour are two New Jerseyans, local favorites in Warren County, Joe Cirotti and Brian Molnar. Cirotti’s own band has been the house band at Bea McNally’s for the past month and a half. Both he and Molnar frequently guest with many other bands in the area, as well. Showtime at Roy’s is 8 p.m.
Friedman’s The Resurrected Tour started this month and continues through the middle of May. He’ll be performing at Roy’s with his uber sideman, Joe Cirotti. Friedman’s CD producer, Brian Molnar, will open the show as a duet with Cirotti. Longtime pal Kinkster pal Brian Kanof will auction off bottles (first half of the tour only) of Kinky’s personal brand of “Mexican mouthwash,” Man in Black Tequila, to benefit Kinky’s award-winning animal rescue group Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch.
Nobody could invent a character quite like Kinky Friedman, the stogie-waving, black-hat-wearing Texas Jewboy singer, storyteller, tequila purveyor, animal rescuer and full-time iconoclast. The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, featuring his first newly written songs in four decades, has to have been one of the longest-awaited follow-ups in recent memory. Not that fans have complained; the continued popularity of tunes such as “Sold American,” “Nashville Casualty and Life” and “Ride ’Em Jewboy” (the Holocaust-referencing song that soothed Nelson Mandela in prison) prove Kinky is that rare talent whose work withstands the test of time. He still delivers those songs — interspersed with his inimitable blend of politically incorrect quips, jokes and tales both tall and true — to appreciative audiences around the world.
Railing against such perceived evils — whether cultural, political, social or in any other realm of human experience — is one of Friedman’s favorite pastimes.
Over the years, Kinky and Willie Nelson have developed a very special (and also quite unusual) relationship. It was Willie’s inspiration that led to the recording of The Loneliest Man I Ever Met. Now calling Willie his “personal shrink,” Kinky credits him with his return to full-time songwriting. Willie — who told Kinky after the latter’s failed 2006 Texas gubernatorial race “fortunately, we are not in control” — called Kinky about a year ago just to say howdy. When asked what he was doing at that moment, Kinky replied, “watching Matlock.” Willie told him that was a sure sign of depression and that he should start writing songs again. His exact words: “Start writing, Kinky — start writing.” Kinky did in fact, start writing that night and has now written a dozen more new songs, all of which will be on his next CD, which he will start recording this summer with Cirotti and Molnar.
For tickets go to www.royshall.org.
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