Omar And The HOWLERS - Blues Bag 1992

Omar And The HOWLERS - Blues Bag 1992
Label: Bullseye

Blues

Born, Kent Dykes, 1950, McComb, Mississippi, USA. The 12-year-old Kent wanted a baseball glove for Christmas and was not impressed by the guitar he received instead. However, he changed his mind, aided by his father's purchase of a album. Soon, he was crossing the road to sit in at his local juke-joint, commemorated in the title of his 1993 album, . At high school he played and songs and listened to the , the and the . His band, the Howlers, was formed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1973; three years later they moved to Austin, Texas, and Dykes turned professional. The band's basic three-pronged approach to music, one part to two parts , allied to Dykes' -like vocals, was established with their second album, . Two albums for in the late 80s flirted with added instrumentation, but that ended with 1990's . Subsequent albums, and , carry a solo credit and refine the sound. Content to work the southern club circuit and enhance his burgeoning European reputation with regular tours ( was recorded in Amsterdam in September 1991), Dykes has taken pride in being able to survive without overt commercial success.
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This CD was the solo debut of vocalist-guitar Omar, the leader of Omar and the Howlers. Although his musicianship is strong (as is the harmonica playing of Fingers Taylor), it may take listeners a little while to get used to Omar's voice which is a mixture of Howlin' Wolf and disc jockey Wolfman Jack! The first nine songs on the CD are essentially duets between Omar and Taylor with the final six tracks adding electric bassist Bruce Jones and drummer Gene Brandon. Many of the songs are light-hearted and, despite a certain lack of variety, blues fans will find the set difficult to resist.
By Scott Yanow, All Music Guide.
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Singer and guitarist Omar proffers a feature album consisting of 5&O performances (harp player Fingers Taylor joins him a few times) followed by just a couple of jousts with his regular rhythm section. His singing-a hoarse, intelligible glossolalia-and tradition-bound picking on Robert Johnson's "Cotta Good Friend," Hound Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig," and the many lupus originals aren't for everybody, but one can do much worse than confront the Texan's sinewy suggestiveness.
By Frank John Hadley.
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Gene Brandon- Drums
Omar K Dykes- Guitar, Harp, Vocals
Bruce Jones- Bass Guitar
Greg "Fingers" Taylor- Harp
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01. Give Me Back My Wig 2:21
02. Bessie Mae 2:53
03. Big Chief Pontiac 2:14
04. Sleeping In The Ground 2:41
05. Lover Man 2:13
06. Come On Pretty Baby 2:42
07. Gotta Good Friend 2:36
08. Leave Here Running 2:55
09. Big Round World 3:11
10. Omar's Blues 4:44
11. Angel Child 3:56
12. Tears Like Rain 3:54
13. Too Much 2:46
14. Wine Headed Woman 3:12
15. Blues In A Bottle 5:36
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