|Omar and the Howlers.

Omar and the Howlers.
Omar and The Howlers - Visit Adelaide On Their First Australian TourEuropean blues fans adore Austin, Texas based guitarist, singer and song-writer Omar Kent Dykes, and Australian audiences will too as Omar and his band 'The Howlers' tour our country for the very first time. That's because he fits the stereo-typical image many folk have of an American musician, he's tall, wears cowboy boots, and has a deep voice with a Southern accent. However, he does not carry a gun, and though he looks rough and tough, he's actually an incredibly peaceful and intelligent musician, and a veteran at working a crowd at a blues club or festival. While Omar still has a sizeable American audience, owing to his albums on 'Columbia Records', he stills spends a good portion of his touring year at festivals and clubs around Europe.

Among white blues musician, Dykes is truly one-of-a-kind, a fact that 'Columbia Records' recognised in the 1980's when he recorded for them. These days, Omar and The Howlers record for Austin, Texas label, 'Watermelon Records Label'. Since being dropped by 'Columbia Records' after the company was bought by 'Sony', Dykes independent-label output since 1990 has been nothing short of extraordinary. His albums since 1990 have included 'Monkey Land' (1990 - Antones); 'Live At Paradiso, Blues Springs Road' (1995); and 'Courts Of Lulu' (all for 'Rounder'); as well as 'Muddy Springs Road' (1995); and 'World Wide Open' (1996). His latest offering, and his best to date is 'Swingland', a 1999 album on the 'Black Top Label'. Omar's 1987 debut recording on Columbia, 'Hard Times In The Land Of Plenty' sold in excess of 500,000 copies, excellent numbers for a blues album.

Omar Kent Dykes was born in 1950, in McComb, Mississippi, the same town from which Bo Diddley hails. He first set foot into neighbourhood Juke joints at age 12, he recalled. After he'd been playing guitar for a while, he went back into the Juke joint. After graduating from high school, Dykes lived in Hattiesburg and Jackson, Mississippi for a few years before relocating to Austin, Texas in 1976. He'd heard the blues scene in Texas was heating up. At that time, Stevie Ray Vaughn was still playing with 'Paul Ray and The Cobras'.

"I know Stevie Ray had a big impact on me 'cause he was such a great guy. But I think everybody in the blues scene around here influenced everybody else", he said in a 1994 interview. "The blues scene is tight and loose at the same time. Everybody is rooting for everybody else, because it helps everybody else out when one artist is on the radio," he added.

October 27, 1999, sees Omar and The Howlers take the stage at The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, and we're in for a big night's fun with this band with their bone-rattling display of swinging, rocking blues and swampy R & B such as this band has played to it's legions of fans around the world. Given that it has taken Omar and The Howlers fifteen years to come to Australia, everybody had best take this opportunity to see this band as it may be another fifteen years before we get another opportunity.

The Support act on the night will be local act, The Deliverymen, so we are ensured of a magnificent night's entertainment of red-hot blues action. Be sure to secure your tickets as soon as you can, from either Venue-Tix, or The Governor Hindmarsh Hotel. Prices are $20:00 + Booking for non-S.A.B.S. members, and $15:00 + Booking for members. This is one show anybody who likes a good time should not miss.

Big Mike Hotz