Pinkard & Bowden are an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters James "Sandy" Pinkard and Richard Bowden (/ˈbaʊdən/), who also play guitar and bass guitar. The duo's music comprises a mix of musical parody and original comedy songs. Pinkard has also written hit singles for Mel Tillis, Anne Murray, and Vern Gosdin, among others. Between 1984 and 1992, Pinkard & Bowden recorded four albums for Warner Bros. Records.
Richard Bowden was born on September 30, 1945, in Linden, Texas,[1] While in high school, he played in a Dixieland band formed by his father Elmer, which also included his childhood friend Don Henley. Bowden and Henley then formed a band called the Four Speeds, which changed its name to Felicity, then Shiloh.[2][3] Shiloh disbanded in 1971 over the band's leadership and creative differences between Henley and Bowden, as Bowden wanted the band to be more country while Henley did not.[4] After Henley left to form Eagles, Bowden briefly toured as a member of Roger McGuinn's band, which opened for Eagles. Bowden came out with his own album in 2003 called "Big Bad Johnson".
In 1985 the pair performed a concert with Ray Stevens at the Lanierland Music Park in Georgia.[5] That year they released the album PG-13. A live album called Live! was released in 1990, with Cousins, Cattle, and Other Love Stories coming in 1992. This album was a split compilation, mixing live and studio tracks. All four albums featured songs that were co-written by Tim Wilson, who would become a comedian and singer himself in the early 1990s.[6]
Style
Pinkard & Bowden have been compared to Homer & Jethro, a country duo popular from the 1940s through the 1960s, whose act also comprised a mix of parody and original songs. Unlike Homer & Jethro, Pinkard & Bowden's material was often profane in nature;[2] Pinkard & Bowden were the first country comedy act to have explicit content warnings on its albums,[2] and the duo were banned from appearing on The Nashville Network (now Paramount Network).[7] Pinkard & Bowden's parodies are sometimes topical in nature, such as "Friends in Crawl Spaces", a parody of Garth Brooks's "Friends in Low Places" which referenced serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer.[2]