from 2000, The Big (and gettin' bigger) Omar Dykes, official Blues Dude

Omar & The Howlers
The Screaming Cat
www.omarandthehowlers.com
Blues and roots aficionados may remember big’n’greezy Texan (by way of Mississippi) Omar Dykes from his 1987 breakthrough album Hard Times in the Land of Plenty. That album came at a time when a certain other Texas guitar grinder had set the music world on it’s collective ears with his brand of soul wrenching Hendrixian tones.  It might have been a trend except that it really didn’t last and Dykes was swept up in the deluge of marketplace need for all things similar. The Screamin’ Cat could probably describe Omar himself this time around. Mix equal parts Captain Beefheart-like moon hollers with Howling Wolf grunts’n’gurgles and you may get close to the sandpapery growl Dykes releases from his throat. Omar hasn’t been idle in the thirteen odd years since his initial brush with fame. In fact, he’s released an album almost very year since, leaving him with an estimable body of work. The songs lean toward the voodoo screech of the past, leave off the commerciality and get down to the dirty bidness of just getting into it, no frills added. The vocals are way up front as they should be, and Omar has that tube-warm guitar skree nailed to the barn door perfectly. There is a wonderful edge to this album that many players would trade their vintage Stratocasters for. The production is almost a player in itself with weird hisses and ambient drones swirling in the misty mix. Slicked-back, righteous and a touch evil. You need this album.
Provogue Records

The MONk 2009 view - Dykes' latest work (besides his ever-growing girth, which seems to be an ongoing project) was in co-operation with the great Jimmie Lee Vaughan on a "tribute" album to the work and "sound" of late bluesman Jimmy Reed. Check Reed's stuff out, as well as "On The Jimmy Reed Highway" if you like this kind of blue matter. It's a matter of taste, for sure, but when Dykes and Vaughan wail it's pretty awesome. Omar can keep howlin' as long as he likes. That is just fine with me.