“I like the music, but it surely acquired so arduous. Generally you’ve acquired to lift the white flag and go, ‘I gave it all the pieces I had.’”

Attributable to well being points, Kent Dykes, identified to all as Omar, thought his profession was over till LeRoi Brothers drummer Mike Buck and Bluebonnets guitarist Eve Monsees persuaded him to assist them on a challenge.

“They referred to as and requested if I’d sing on one thing,” Dykes recollects. “I stated I’d attempt, and we did Lightnin’ Hopkins’ ‘Imply Outdated Tornado.’ Then Mike needed me to sing ‘Purple Haze,’ however like Howlin’ Wolf. We ended up doing 4 songs, and it was enjoyable. They stated if I needed to do my very own report, they’d be my band. My spouse, Issa Medrano, and I beginning writing songs.”

The outcome was the blues-drenched roots-rock of What’s Buggin’ You, which holds as much as the excessive customary Dykes set with a catalog of two dozen albums, solo or together with his band, Omar & the Howlers.

Through the recording of 2017’s Zoltar’s Stroll, Dykes contracted a mysterious flesh-eating illness. By 2018, together with his future unsure, a fundraiser was held in Austin, with Marcia Ball, Derek O’Brien, Ted Roddy, and others performing for the beloved bluesman.

“I acquired actual sick. My arms acquired weak and turned black,” he recounts. “I went to 5 medical doctors who couldn’t assist. Lastly, I went to a dermatologist, who put me on steroids after which antibiotics, eight months in all, and it went away. However my arms are so skinny now, I can’t mash the chords down. I used to be solely in a position to play rhythm on the brand new CD. Eve and Jason Crisp performed nice lead.”

Certainly, the hefty rocker used to punish Strats, bending notes by pushing down on the physique and up on the headstock. “One time I pushed the truss rod out the underside of the fretboard. You would hear it cracking. Time for a brand new neck.”

The 74-year-old, who grew up in McComb, Mississippi, remembers, “After I was 14, I performed with genuine blues guys, however I didn’t comprehend it on the time. I made Joe Willie Wilkins and Houston Stackhouse (Sonny Boy Williamson alumni) play ‘Stroll, Don’t Run’ at a used automobile sale. After all, I believed they have been horrible,” he laughs. “I didn’t know sufficient to know they have been nice. They stored speaking about Robert. However not Robert Johnson; they have been speaking about Robert Nighthawk.

“My daddy purchased me information like Albert Collins, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker. I’d play with blues guys, rockabilly guys. I watched a man play ‘Memphis’ by Johnny Rivers, and I memorized the place he put his fingers. A man named Mr. Calcutt had performed on the Grand Ole Opry, and he’d present me stuff. He took me to Bossier Metropolis, Louisiana; turned out we performed a strip membership. He stated, ‘Don’t inform your mother and father.’ No means!”

As for primal guitarists, “I used to be a Creedence nut, so John Fogerty was an affect. Additionally, Lonnie Mack, Jimmy Reed and Eddie Taylor, and I needed to be Roy Buchanan, however I spotted that wasn’t gonna occur. He was so good.”

After transferring to Hattiesburg, “I began a band with ‘Phareaux’ Gerry Felton, on bass, and R.S. Area requested me if I’d sing with the Howlers. Suzy Elkins and Phareaux, who was a very good guitar participant, and John McMurry (a.okay.a. Webb Wilder) had my favourite band, Eveready. The unique Howlers performed a membership referred to as the Golden Eagle, doing High 40. And folks hated us. I lastly stated, ‘No extra. I’m not singing “Angie” or “Daniel.”’ We realized ‘Going Up To The Nation, Paint My Mailbox Blue’ by Taj Mahal.”

Austin appeared like a logical transfer.

“We have been large followers of the Silvertones from Ann Arbor, they usually turned us on to the Fabulous Thunderbirds. In ’76, we determined to maneuver to Austin – a six-piece band getting $150 a gig.”

When the Howlers broke up in ’78, he stored the title, added ‘Omar,’ and paired the ensemble right down to a trio. “Border Woman,” co-penned with Area, was a standout lower on I Advised You So, from ’86. When Dykes wrote the title music of 1987’s Onerous Instances In The Land Of A lot, he stated, “I believe I’ve acquired one thing.”

It secured a cope with Columbia Data. Large-time promotion went to work, however Columbia was being bought to Sony – “So they simply ditched my report. The follow-up, Wall Of Delight, was launched as a cutout.”

A 2020 memoir, The Life and Instances of a Poor and Nearly Well-known Bluesman, is each cautionary and humorous. “The executives picked me up in limousines in each city, going to radio stations. Hell, I’d have ridden in a pickup truck. However I used to be paying for each a type of rides. In Boston, we had dinner with a bunch of promo individuals, and it got here to 10,000 bucks. We have been touring consistently. We didn’t have time to consider all that.”

Considerably, Buggin’ is on Omar’s personal label, appropriately dubbed Large Guitar Music.

This text initially appeared in VG’s July 2024 subject. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.