Pinkard & Bowden

Pinkard & Bowden
Pinkard & Bowden in 1985
Background information
Origin	United States
Genres	Comedy, country, bluegrass
Years active	1984-1998
Labels	Warner Bros.
Associated acts	Tim Wilson
Members	Richard Bowden Sandy Pinkard

Pinkard & Bowden was an American country music duo composed of singer-songwriters James "Sandy" Pinkard and Richard Bowden, 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.

James "Sandy" Pinkard was born January 16, 1947 in Abbeville, Louisiana. He got his start in Nashville, Tennessee in the mid-1970s. Initially, he planned to become a singer, but after his singing career proved unsuccessful, he turned to songwriting. Among his hits as a writer were "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma" (a duet by Shelly West and David Frizzell), "Coca Cola Cowboy" by Mel Tillis, and "Blessed Are the Believers" by Anne Murray.

Richard Bowden was born on September 30, 1945 in Linden, Texas, He played in a Dixieland band while in high school 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. 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. 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".

Jim Ed Norman, who was also in Shiloh, introduced Pinkard and Bowden to each other, and the two began writing songs together. After discovering that they were both writing songs that were humorous in nature, the two decided to form a comedy duo, and released their debut album Writers in Disguise in 1984. It was led off by a parody montage entitled "Adventures in Parodies," which included parodies of Sammi Smith's "Help Me Make It Through the Night (Help Me Make Through The Yard)," Johnny Cash's "Daddy Sang Bass," Tanya Tucker's "Delta Dawn," B.J. Thomas' "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song," Eddie Rabbitt's "Drivin' My Life Away," Claude King's "Wolverton Mountain," Willie Nelson's "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" and Michael Martin Murphey's "What's Forever For." This album also included their only Top 40 hit on the country charts, "Mama She's Lazy" (a parody of The Judds' "Mama He's Crazy"), as well as the parodies "Libyan on a Jet Plane" (Peter, Paul and Mary's "Leaving on a Jet Plane"), "She Thinks I Steal Cars" (George Jones' "She Thinks I Still Care") and "Arab, Alabama," a partial parody of Waylon Jennings' "Good Hearted Woman."