The late Kinky Friedman hasn't made his last pithy musical observations yet. His posthumous album Poet of Motel 6 will be released March 21 on Hardcharger/Blue Élan Records. It's a self-aware goodbye that poetically closes the famous Texan's final creative chapter.
Two personal details especially shape this album: Friedman's home of 40 years, Echo Hill Ranch, and the death of his friend Billy Joe Shaver.
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Echo Hill Ranch is where the album was written, and a good place to reflect on life in the peaceful Hill Country. The 400-acre property was home not just to Kinky, but his sister, Marcie Friedman, who said in the release, “This record is as good as Kinky’s [1973 debut album], Sold American. Every song is about saying goodbye in a way only Kinky could.”
Friedman was 79 years old when he died on the ranch; some sources name Parkinson's disease as the cause of death, while others like the Texas Tribune simply mention that he had it.
At least some of the album's inspiration was saying goodbye to Shaver, another Texas musician who rubbed shoulders with some of the same Outlaw characters Friedman did — Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Bob Dylan. Head of Hardcharger Records Jesse Dayton, explains how this affected the album's tone. The title track, "Poet of Motel 6," was specifically inspired by Shaver.
“Kinky was very upset when Billy Joe Shaver died,” said Dayton. “Kinky idolized Billy Joe. I hear that sense of loss.”
“Those songs he wrote about people he cared about that had passed on, they were quite elegiac,” he continued. “He sang beautifully, and at the end he was in tears. He was very emotionally connected when he was doing these vocals.”
Although Friedman was famous for wacky antics and satire that went too far for some of his many onlookers, producer David Mansfield confirmed that this 10-song collection was made with real emotions and even a spiritual bent. He shared that sessions for the album were personal and vulnerable.
An uncropped view of the album cover.Poet of Motel 6 by Kinky Friedman
Heartfelt music is not new for Friedman, whose catalog contains songs like "My Sh*t's F*cked Up" and the feminist-provoking “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed” alongside more earnest takes like "Mandela's Blues" dedicated to the former South African president and the resiliently hopeful "A Dog Named Freedom."
Musicians Rodney Crowell, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Rick Trevino, and Amy Nelson also contributed to this album. Dayton calls it “his most heartstring-pulling record.”
