Omar & the Howlers
Live at the Opera House (Phoenix Gems)
The music of Omar & the Howlers is the tougher, bluesier first cousin to John Fogerty’s swamp-colored rock — music that always sounds best live. Live at the Opera House finds the Howlers in top form in 1987 (the outside of the J-card says 1997, though it’s most definitely ’87), pumping out 11 scorchers. Ten of those are penned or co-penned by Dykes himself, whose very song titles say it all: “Mississippi Hoodoo Man,” “Hard Times in the Land of Plenty,” “Big Legs,” and “Dancing in the Canebrake.” As menacing and threatening as any of the dark nights or hard roads he travels in blues country, Dykes’ growly baritone propels the Howlers’ music from one juke joint to another (“Don’t You Know,” “Lee Anne”), while “Rock & Roll Ball” turns into revival-tent call-and-response, all in the name of rock & roll. Thirteen years after its original recording, the no-frills, stripped-down sound of Omar & the Howlers remains true to its roots and doesn’t compromise substance for style. 
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This article appears in May 5 • 2000.