|  By
Cornbread
 Omar
and The Howlers – Muddy Springs Road
{2005 | Ruf Records}
The Texas-based bluesman, Kent
“Omar” Dykes has re-released Muddy
Springs Road (originally 1995).
Now resident of Houston, Omar
is from McComb, Mississippi (as is Bo Diddley
and Britney Spears). Omar started playing guitar
at seven, has hanging out in juke joints at
12 and joined his first band at 13.
For this CD the Howlers are;
Omar Dykes (vocals & guitar), Jerry 'Phareaux'
Felton (bass), George Rains (drums), Gary Primich
(harmonica), Nick Connolly (piano & organ),
Bradley Kopp (acoustic guitar) and Mark Hallman
(percussion).
Umm mm I love Texas Blues. These
eleven original tracks are good, with my favorite
being “Black Bottom” and “Life
Without You”.
1.
Muddy Springs Road – slow soulful
blues with organ and harp about growin’
up in Mississippi “used to spend my days
down across the tracks where the whiskey was
white and the blues was black.”
2. Black Bottom – excellent
song, raspy blues vocals, very cool bass. This
song is on my iPod.
3. Midnight Ramblin’ Man –
it’s a combination of John Lee Hooker
and Howlin’ Wolf feel to it, but even
better.
4. Hoo Doo Ball – kind of a Bo
Diddley meets Howlin’ Wolf sound.
5. Life Is Just A Circle – this
tune is a southern swamp song that’s mighty
pleasing.
6. Life Without You –
while this song was released ten years prior,
it could easily be a tribute to his wife,
Lyn Dykes, who passed away at age 44 on December
13, 2004. It’s an excellent, excellent
song, also added to my iPod. The slow guitar
and rich, soulful guitar are great.
7. Exactly What I Thought She’d Do
– more country than the other tracks.
8. Everywhere I Go – blues, blues,
blues. An old-school traditional blues song.
9. Get Hip – a piano
boogie, Johnnie Johnson like song.
10. Hurry, Hurry – both
musically and vocally a gem of blues song that
I found myself dancing in my chair too.
11. Dangerous Man – bit
of a rockabilly swing with harmonica.
Also
check out Omar’s newest release Boogie
Man as well as Omar’s
home on the web. Omar tours the world –
make sure you see him when you can and add his
CD’s to your collection. I look forward
to getting them all.
Ciao'
for now, peace.
Peter 'Cornbread'
Cohen, CBP
~
Cornbread@STLBlues.net ~
|
