Omar & the Howlers
Hard Times in the Land of Plenty (Austin)Omar & the Howlers
Wall of Pride (Austin) “Some people have, some people have not,” belts out Kent “Omar” Dykes’ gravelly baritone on the title tune of his reissued 1987 call of the wild, Hard Times in the Land of Plenty. That’s a disconcertingly apropos image for these times and the first of a solid one-two recording punch, followed by 1988’s Wall of Pride. Nearly 15 years later, both albums stand as tall and strong, maybe stronger for having weathered the Nineties. Omar & the Howlers’ John Fogerty-meets-Double Trouble sound was popular enough in Austin to win the band a slew of local music awards and garner them much airplay on radio, but that description is a revisionist convenience: Dykes’ swamp-drenched baritone and muddy bottom blues predated Double Trouble and possibly the Fabulous Thunderbirds. The title track to Hard Times, its monster single “Border Girl,” and punchy, straight-from-the-sticks romps like “Dancing in the Canebrake” lead a trail right into the heart of Delta rhythm & blues. Likewise, Wall of Pride offers a watertight ride through the backwoods, picking up Omar’s Mississippi-born influences and seating them smack in the middle of his big Texas-in-the-jungle blues (“Rattlesnake Shake,” “Dimestore Hoo Doo,” “Meet Me Down at the River”). The newly remastered reissues also stand as a superior testament to the world-class recordings made here in the late Eighties and proof that Austin blues never did begin or end with the name “Vaughan.” (Both) 
This article appears in December 14 • 2001.