Kinky Friedman’s bio published (Borneo)

About the book
Kinky Friedman (Borneo 1967-69) has always maintained his Kinkster persona and hidden Richard Friedman from the public eye. Using one-liners, humor, and occasional rudeness, he follows the advice of his friend Bob Dylan to keep an aura of mystery. Author Mary Lou Sullivan spent many contentious days and nights at Kinky’s Texas Hill Country ranch before he trusted her enough to open up and speak candidly. Best known as an irreverent cigar-chomping Jewish country-and-western singer turned author, turned politician, Kinky has dined on monkey brains in the jungles of Borneo, supped with presidents, and vacationed with Bob Dylan in the tiny fishing village of Yelapa, Mexico. A satirist who loves pushing the envelope, he’s been attacked onstage, received bomb threats, and put on the only show in Austin City Limits’ history deemed too offensive to air. From the 1970s music scene in L.A. with Tom Waits and the Band, to political platforms advocating legalized marijuana, to friendships with John Belushi, Joseph Heller, Don Imus, Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakam, and Billy Bob Thornton, this is the candid account based on dozens and years of interviews of the larger-than-life Texan who is still writing books and songs, recording albums, and performing for enthusiastic audiences throughout the world.

Everything’s Bigger in Texas: The Life and Times of Kinky Friedman (Backbeat Books) has just been released.

About the Author

Mary Lou Sullivan is an award-winning journalist, author, public relations professional and former radio show host. Her first authorized biography, Raisin’ Cain – The Wild and Raucous Story of Johnny Winter (Backbeat Books, May 2010), earned popular and critical acclaim, as well as prestigious awards for the quality of her writing and her research. 

The Blues Foundation in Memphis gave her the 2011 Keeping the Blues Alive Award in Literature, and the Association of Recorded Sound Collections gave the book its 2011 Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research.

When she was looking for a subject for her next biography, another Texas icon caught her eye. A larger-than-life Renaissance man with intelligence and street smarts, Kinky Friedman is a musician/songwriter who named his band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, and put on a stage show that combined Hank Williams and Lenny Bruce, and earned him the admiration and friendship of Bob Dylan.

Sullivan enjoyed his wit, humor, and philosophical musings in his 19 detective novels, 11 non-fiction books, and countless articles in Texas Monthly, Rolling Stone, High Times, and the Daily Beast.

She was impressed with his family legacy of social consciousness that had him picketing segregated restaurants and joining the Peace Corps and went to Borneo when he graduated from college. A rugged individualist with the courage to follow his dreams and live life on his own terms, Friedman was determined to make a difference.

He ran as an independent candidate in the 2006 Texas gubernatorial race, earning nearly 547,000 votes as in a red state race against incumbent Republican Rick Perry. Disgusted with the budget cuts to education, he ran for Texas Agriculture Commissioner in the 2014 Democratic primary with a platform focused on legalizing hemp and marijuana and funding education through taxation and regulation.

Sullivan enjoyed researching and interviewing Friedman and his friends, which include Willie Nelson, Don Imus, Billy Bob Thornton, Dwight Yoakum, Lyle Lovett, Billy Joe Shaver, Bill Clinton, and Ruth Buzzi.