(Bloomberg) -- Richard “Kinky” Friedman, the satirical country singer turned detective novelist who twice ran for governor of Texas, died late Wednesday. He was 79.

Friedman died at his family ranch in Medina, in Texas Hill Country, according to a post on his official account on X, formerly known as Twitter. He had been suffering from late-stage Parkinson’s disease. 

“Kinky Friedman stepped on a rainbow at his beloved Echo Hill surrounded by family & friends,” the post read. “Kinkster endured tremendous pain & unthinkable loss in recent years but he never lost his fighting spirit and quick wit.”

Friedman attracted a cult following starting in the early 1970s with his band the Texas Jewboys — a play on Bob Wills’s band, the Texas Playboys, and Friedman’s own Jewish background. Friedman’s group performed a mix of such satirical songs as They Ain’t Makin’ Jews Like Jesus Anymore and Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed as well as serious ones including Ride ’Em Jewboy, a rare country song about the Holocaust.

In the 1980s, Friedman began writing detective novels featuring a character named Kinky Friedman who solved fictional crimes involving members of the Jewboys, singer Willie Nelson and other actual people. He later wrote a column for Texas Monthly magazine as well as nonfiction books on his own and with collaborators including Nelson and actor-director Billy Bob Thornton.

Friedman ran for governor for the first time in 2006, as an independent, and received 12.4% of the vote, placing him fourth in a field of six. One of his campaign slogans was, “How Hard Could It Be?” He made a second attempt at the office, then ran instead for state agriculture commissioner with the slogan “No Cow Left Behind,” ultimately losing in the Democratic primary. He said at the time that the run had been a mistake.

“It’s finally dawned on me that it’s a far better thing to be a musician than it is to be a politician,” Friedman said in a 2010 interview. “If you’ve ever been in a room with a bunch of musicians, they’re decent people. And you can’t say that about politicians.”

Friedman returned to music, taking up touring again in 2010 and recording the albums The Loneliest Man I Ever Met (2015) and Circus of Life (2018).

Survivors include his sister, Marcie, and brother, Roger. 

Friedman himself never married, instead spending time at his ranch with various rescue dogs he called “The Friedmans” and friends who came for visits.

“I’ve got a pretty good life,” he said in 2010. “Get to hang out with Willie Nelson, go on vacation to Hawaii, have a number of attractive young women in your life. Very nice.”

(Updates with details of life, quote in last two paragraphs. A previous version of this story corrected the spelling of Bob Wills’s name.)

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