Omar Kent Dykes (born Kent Dykes, 1950, McComb,

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

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) is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, living in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. He began leading bands as an adolescent in McComb, Mississippi. In 1973 he formed the

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Omar & the Howlers Omar And The Howlers is a Texas based electric blues and blues rock band, The original Howlers was formed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1973. Three years later they moved to Austin, Texas. The band has regularly toured European countries.

. The band plays electric

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 1900 ...

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

and blues-rock. Dykes has also had a successful career as a

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artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...

, and regularly toured

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an countries. Among his solo albums are ''Blues Bag'' from 1991, and ''Muddy Springs Road'' from 1994. An Austin Music Hall of Fame inductee, he was afflicted in 2017 with a skin illness that wasted away the flesh of his arms, and he lost the ability to perform in public. In 2020 he published a memoir, ''OMAR DYKES: The Life and Times of a Poor and Almost Famous Bluesman.''

Discography

* ''Big Leg Beat'' (1980, Stomp) * ''I Told You So'' (1984, Clyde Frog) * ''Hard Times in the Land of Plenty'' (1987, Columbia) * ''Wall of Pride'' (1988, Columbia) * ''Monkey Land'' (1990, Antone's) * ''Blues Bag'' (1991, Provogue) (solo album) * ''Live at Paradiso'' (1992, Provogue) * ''Courts of Lulu'' (1993, Provogue) * ''Muddy Springs Road'' (1995, Provogue) * ''World Wide Open'' (1996, Provogue) * ''Southern Style'' (1997, Provogue) * ''Swing Land'' (1999, Provogue) * ''Live at the Opera House: Austin, Texas - August 30, 1987'' (2000, Provogue) * ''The Screamin' Cat'' (2000, Provogue) * ''Big Delta'' (2002, Provogue) * ''Boogie Man'' (2004, Ruf) * ''Bamboozled: Live in Germany'' (2006, Ruf) * ''On The Jimmy Reed Highway'' (2007, Ruf) (with

Jimmie Vaughan Jimmie Vaughan (born March 20, 1951) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer based in Austin, Texas. He is the older brother of the late Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Several notable blues guitarists have had a significant ...

Lou Ann Barton Lou Ann Barton (born February 17, 1954) is an American blues singer based in Austin, Texas since the 1970s. AllMusic noted that "The grace, poise, and confidence she projects on-stage is part of a long tradition for women blues singers". Biogr ...

and others.) * ''Big Town Playboy'' (2009, Ruf) * ''Essential Collection'' (2012, Ruf) 2CD * ''I'm Gone'' (2012, Big Guitar) * ''Too Much is Not Enough'' (2012, Big Guitar) * ''Running With the Wolf'' (2013, Provogue) (solo album)

References

1950 births Living people American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers American male singers Blues rock musicians Texas blues musicians Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians Provogue Records artists {{US-rock-guitarist-stub