Omar and the Howlers Essential Collection
Omar and the Howlers
Ruf Records
February 14
By Grant “Britt
Imagine a body with Howlin’ Wolf, Captain Beefheart, and Karl, the creature Billy Bob Thornton animated in Sling Blade, sewn up in the same skin. Omar Dykes writes and performs backwoods howlin’ music that sounds like it just oozed up through the Mississippi mud and crawled to Texas to gargle with some bar-b-que.
Born in Bo Diddley’s home town of McComb Mississippi, Dykes formed the Howlers in ’73, relocating to Austin in ’76, where he has remained. He was up against some tough Texas bar band competition, with the Fabulous Thunderbirds just cranking up in Austin and ZZ Top blazing away in Houston. Top was slicker and the T-Birds were greasier, but Omar held his own, blasting out hard core bar band blues night after night, selling over half a million copies of ’87s Hard Times In The Land of Plenty.
This two CD set is as advertised, the ultimate Omar collection. The first half, labeled the “Best of,” is culled from mostly live performances over the years. One notable exception is from ’07’s On the Jimmy Reed Highway,with the title cut featuring a collaboration with a couple of former rivals, original T Birds vocalist, Lou Ann Barton and the band’s original guitarist, Jimmy Ray Vaughan. It’s a bloozy homage to Reed done in a loping strut with Omar chuckling with glee at Vaughan’s funky fingerpicking.
Omar lays down some serious voodoo on “Snake Oil Doctor,” sounding like Captain Beefheart channeling Dr. John in his Gris Gris period, laughin’ maniacally while extolling the virtues of his fine snaky self, with Papa Mali contributing some greasy slide to the potion. But it’s hard to top his signature tune and biggest hit, “Hard Times in the Land of Plenty,” with Omar sounding like he’s been swilling kerosene. “Some got it all,” Omar yowls,” and the rest…ain’t got innnny.”
On “Mississippi Hoodoo Man” the Karlwolfheart beast reveals his muddy roots, howlin’ like some nameless swamp creature he’s conjured up from the Delta mud to come and getcha.
The second CD, “Omar’s picks,” pays homage to his influences. Interestingly enough, on the one song you’d think he’d go down in the bottoms for with his trademark sandpapered vocals, translating Wolf’s classic “Built For Comfort”, he stays up high, octaves away from his trademark growlhowl, loping along acoustically, fingerpicking with Magic Slim.
Omar puts his soul into this stuff, and you can feel it. It’s raw and electric blues; mean and evil, bad and nasty. Get yourself some. You’ll be glad you did.
