Kinky Friedman
From One Good American To Another (1995)

review by: Brandon Copple
Date: 7/21/00

Call it Jukebox Judaism; call it Hebrew Honky Tonk. Call it the best Jewish-country performance since Jesus played the Ryman. From One Good American to Another, a Kinky Friedman, is the Kinkster at his musical pinnacle, long before he got famous writing mystery novels. And it captures the best of the work he did in the 70s with his band, the Texas Jewboys.

The first eight songs are studio-Jewish-rock and live folk stuff. But the middle ten songs, recorded live for some radio show in the mid-70s, are the classics, with Kinky and the band probably stoned to the eyelids, certainly having a good time. There's lots of clowning around, and it's funny, but don't be fooled-Kinky writes insightful lyrics and his band can play like hell. Many of these would be country classics if Nashville could ever get its head out of its ass. "They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore," "Rapid City, South Dakota," (reputedly the first and only pro-choice country song), and "Something's Wrong With the Beaver" (wherein June Cleaver finds the beloved Beaver dead of a drug overdose). After all the cutting up and poking fun at rednecks, Jews, WASPS, women and the Statue of Liberty, comes the powerhouse "Ride 'Em Jewboy," a meditation on the Holocaust with Western stylings (that's Country-Western, not Western Civ).

Needless to say, if you're the kind of person who might find any of this offensive, you shouldn't buy the record. Instead, you should either get a sense of humor or kill yourself; nobody likes you. Think about it.