There is a lot to do this time of the year, but you really owe it to yourself to put Kinky Friedman’s show high on your priority list.
The former Texas gubernatorial candidate, political commentator, author, musician, columnist and friend to many A-list musicians and actors — Billy Bob Thornton and Willie Nelson, for starters — is back on the road for a solo tour. It’s understandable that joining with Thornton to co-write the hot-off-the-presses “The Billy Bob Tapes: A Cave Full of Ghosts,” and working with Nelson on another soon-to-be-released book have kept him busy, but how could he pass up the D.C. area in a presidential election year?
“My ashes will be thrown in Rick Perry’s hair,” said the quick-witted troubadour, joshing — we think — about his political thoughts.
| Onstage |
| Kinky Friedman |
| When: 7:30 p.m. Monday |
| Where: The Birchmere Music Hall, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria |
| Info: $35; 202-397-SEAT (7328); ticketmaster.com |
All kidding aside, Friedman’s writing and music have drawn fans and raves since the 1970s, when he toured with his band the Texas Jewboys. Even though he’s also hit the concert trail with the likes of Bob Dylan on Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue and other tours, many would contend his shows are most delightful when done solo.
Friedman promises the local show will be the free-form, one-man extravaganza that made him famous. Attendee will hear political commentary and plenty of social discussion too. You would expect that from the man who has had a front-row seat to many other people’s lives and wrote his 2009 book “Heroes of a Texas Childhood” to tell about how he’s watched as the world has changed through the decades.
“You can see not just in Washington — from Obama all up and down the [rows of] politicians — they are all behind the curve,” he said. “You don’t see FDR or JFK anymore. It’s the same in country music, at all the Nashville corporate brothels. We have all these songwriters and in 30 years they have yet to write ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down’ [which was penned by Kris Kristofferson]. All those songs were written by drunk, broke, confused guys going through very hard times.”
Although Friedman said many of the songs he’ll showcase are likely “older than many of those in the audience,” he said his fans enjoy his look back, which soon boomerangs into a futuristic exploration.
And, of course, Friedman will stick around after the show to chat and sign autographs, too.
“I will sign ‘Heroes,’ ” he said in one of his trademark lines. “I will sign anything except bad legislation!”
