Omar And Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird

Now on his 14th release for approximately ten different labels, Texan Omar Dykes keeps the faith by re-recording some of his better tracks, and adding a few new covers. While it looks on paper to be treading water, this is really one of the band's strongest releases, since the material - which has often been inconsistent - is top-notch, and the new Howlers are a crack unit with impeccable chops. Omar attacks and rearranges these songs with the experience of having played them for years, in many cases making these versions more definitive than the originals, an unusual occurrence when an artist revisits his own work…

Although no new ground is covered on The Screamin Cat, Austin-based Omar and the Howlers simply continue to forge ahead, creating another energetic blues and boogie disc. Luckily, the Howlers have never stuck to one style of blues; they aren't purists, which allows plenty of room for a hopped-up mixture of swamp blues, Memphis soul, roots rock, and whatever else it takes to get their audience moving. Their party ethics are personified on The Screamin Cat by songs like "Party Girl," "Steady Rock," "Snake Oil Doctor," and the title track. Lead guitarist Omar Dykes' gravelly Howlin Wolf roar remains intact while Howler musical duties are shared by Bruce Jones on bass (three tracks); Rick Chilleri on drums (one track); Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne on guitar, B-3, and bass; and B.E. "Frosty" Smith on drums, percussion, B-3, and Fender Rhodes.

Supported by a new batch of Howlers, Omar Dykes doesn't show any signs of wear and tear on World Wide Open. The band continues to turn out a gut-busting mixture of blues and dirty rock & roll, occasionally sounding like Howlin' Wolf, other times like the Stones or Creedence Clearwater Revival. As always, the quality of songs is slightly inconsistent but the band never sounds tired – they perform with as much energy, if not more, than they ever have. Austin, Texas-based guitarist and singer/songwriter Omar Kent Dykes fits the stereotypical image some have of an American blues musician: he's tall, wears cowboy boots, and has a deep voice with a Southern accent…

With his gravelly vocals that fall between Wolfman Jack and Howlin' Wolf, along with an ever-changing band of Howlers, Kent "Omar" Dykes charges through more rootsy boogie, blues, and rock & roll. For his first album of original material in four years, Dykes invited professional songwriters Darden Smith, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Stephen Bruton, and Alejandro Escovedo to co-write these 11 tunes. That not only elevates the quality of the tracks - especially lyrically - but also adds dashes of country and folk-rock to the mix. It diversifies but does not diminish Omar's gritty sound, and makes this one of his most accomplished and exciting recordings. Guest Howlers like guitarists Chris Duarte, Jon Dee Graham, and Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne, along with Stevie Ray Vaughan's old Double Trouble rhythm section, and Zappa/Jeff Beck drummer Terry Bozzio all contribute to the bone-shaking proceedings…

This is Omar Dykes' 50th anniversary CD and the first Omar & the Howlers release with new material since Boogie Man in 2004. With a recorded history of over 20 titles, this is the first release on Omar's own Big Guitar Music label, with more planned from this still active 21st century bluesman. Omar's diverse musical roots are show-cased on each track, with all songs being written by Dykes except I'm Mad Again by John Lee Hooker. The Howlers include Wes Starr and Bruce Jones, who have been playing with Omar since Big Leg Beat (1980), as well as Mike Buck, Ronnie James, and smokin' guitar from Casper Rawls and Derek O'Brien.

Omar Dykes tears it up big-time on this marvelous live outing. Pulling tunes largely from his then-current Hard Times in the Land of Plenty album, Dykes and his band deliver the goods with loads of panache and attitude for a hometown crowd hanging on every note. Dykes' voice is poised somewhere between Howlin' Wolf and Bob Seger, while his guitar style is a Texas version of John Fogerty's work with Creedence, but the sound he produces out of all this is totally unique. The disc is loaded with solid Dykes originals like "Mississippi Hoo Doo Man," "Same Old Grind," "Hard Times in the Land of Plenty," and a wild encore performance of Jerry McCain's "Rock'n'Roll Ball." One great little package.

Mississippi-born but Texas-based Omar Kent Dykes understands a fundamental fact about the blues. He knows there are only a handful of rhythms and themes in the blues grab bag, and he uses them all over and over again in slightly different guises, which is far from a bad thing. It is the fundamental conservatism of the blues and its limited palette that has kept the form alive long after its colorful offspring (R&B, soul, rock & roll, etc.) flew the roost, taking a large part of the audience with them. But Omar understands all this. He has had a 30-year career playing these rhythms, and he knows how to keep it all simple, direct, and powerful, and how to build new songs out of the fabric of the old songs without destroying their familiarity.

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.