In this week's Houston Press cover story, you can read about Kinky Friedman's completely serious campaign to become Texas' next Agriculture Commissioner in the November 2014, a position he hopes will allow him to be the state's leading advocate for marijuana legalization. This is not the first time Friedman, a curmudgeonly but warm-hearted jack-of-all-trades for Texas arts and letters, has acted on his political ambitions. His 2010 run for governor drew about as many laughs as it did votes, but at least it was an entertaining few months.
But Friedman is not quite the only Texan to have kept two hats handy, one to toss into the political arena and the other to pass around from the bandstand for tips. Thanks to our friends at the Texas Music Office -- by far the coolest part of Rick Perry's entire operation -- Rocks Off was able to unearth five more.
KENNY MAINES Out in West Texas, the name Maines has been synoymous with music since the 1950s, when James Maines and his two siblings started the Maines Brothers Band. They quickly became one of the most popular country/Western-swing groups in the greater Lubbock area across two generations, as the "Little Maines Boys" who once sung atop soda-pop crates grew into full-fledged Maines Brothers themselves. That iteration recorded several albums throughout the late '70s and '80s, including a couple for Mercury.
The best-known Maines is steel-guitar guru Lloyd, Joe Ely band alumnus, producer extraordinaire, and sire of Dixie Chick Natalie. But younger brother Kenny, a guitarist, singer and harmonica player, was elected Lubbock Country Commissioner in 1992 and served 12 years before returning to the Maines Brothers. The band continues performing today, just not very often because of a stipulation that they won't play a show unless all seven members can be present.
W. LEE "PAPPY" O'DANIEL Still the only musician elected Texas governor, Pappy O'Daniel is best known outside politics as the man who gave Bob Wills his start as a fiddler in his popular 1930s Western swing band the Light Crust Doughboys. Wills went on to found the Texas Playboys, but the Light Crust Doughboys made an ideal campaign vehicle for O'Daniel as popular songs like "Beautiful Texas" could be heard at campaign rallies. He was elected governor in both 1938 and 1940.
An Ohio native who got his start in Texas by selling advertising for Fort Worth's Burrus Mill flour company (hence the "Light Crust Doughboys"), O'Daniel went on to serve the people of Texas as U.S. senator from 1941 to 1949, narrowly defeating an upstart Hill Country congressman named Lyndon Baines Johnson. Their closely contested race remains one of the most famous election controversies in Texas history.
ARNALDO VILARREAL RAMIREZ SR. Already a popular DJ in the Rio Grande Valley, Arnaldo Ramirez founded what is believed to be the first Tejano record label, IDEAL, in 1948. Some of the artists who recorded for Ramirez included Chelo Silva, Lydia Mendoza, Los Alegres de Teran, Narcisco Martinez, Cornelio Reyna, Carlos Guzman and an up-and-coming singer from Corpus Christi named Baldemar Huerta, who Anglo audiences would get to know much better under the name Freddy Fender.
Ramirez also started the widely seen Spanish-language TV variety show Fanfarria Falcon in 1964; during its 20-year run it was broadcast on as many as 160 stations across the U.S. and Mexico. A beloved figure in the Valley for decades, Ramirez was elected mayor of Mission in 1973 and served eight years. He passed away in 1993.
List continues on the next page.