2025’s “Top” Ten Music Losses: Sandy Pinkard (#10)

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Remember all those big and medium-sized named people you knew after I explained them earlier in the month? Hang that up, you’re out of luck now! And remember, this is part of the pain of being me. Here we go with my ten personally most significant music losses from last year. #10: Sandy Pinkard As a songwriter, Sandy Pinkard had a string of successful songs recorded by others in the 80s. “Blessed Are the Believers” by Anne Murray, “You’re the Reason God Made Oklahoma” by David Frizzell and Shelly West, and “Coca Cola Cowboy” by Mel Tillis were among the best successes Pinkard had as a songwriter in country music. His forte, however, was as a comedian. He teamed up with Richard Bowden and created Pinkard & Bowden, lovingly referred to as “the Homer and Jethro of the 80s.” Their success didn’t last long (which is sad because, like Homer and Jethro [and Weird Al] — and UNLIKE Cleddus T. Judd — they had an amazing cerebral quality to their parodies), but songs like “Mama, He’s Lazy” had ‘em laughing for a good while. After their success faded, Pinkard moved to West Virginia, where he lived out his life, while Bowden moved back to his hometown on Linden, Texas, where he became a councilman. An Air Force veteran of the Vietnam war, Pinkard was buried in the national cemetery in West Virginia with full military honors. May be forgotten by most, but I got a lot of chuckles out of these guys in the 80s. Sandy Pinkard Born James Sanford Pinkard Jr., January 16, 1947, Abbeville, Louisiana Died July 26, 2025, Kingwood, West Virginia (unknown causes) (age 78) One of my favorite Pinkard & Bowden songs, because it mentions my brother’s old aircraft carrier: