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A BiTS INTERVIEw: omar kent dykes

Omar Dykes was born and spent his early life in McComb, Mississippi,

the home town of Bo Diddley and Britney Spears. An outstanding guitar
player and a singer.

In 1973 he formed the band Omar and the Howlers—Texas blues, rock
and roll and blues-rock.

Among his 36 albums are “Blues Bag” from 1991 and “Muddy Springs

Road” from 1994.

In 2017, Omar was afflicted with a skin disorder that wasted away the

flesh of his arms, and he became unable to perform in public.

Ian McKenzie spoke to him on the telephone at his home in Austin, TX.

OKD: Hello.

BiTS: Omar, it's Ian McKenzie.

OKD: Hey, Ian, how you doing?

BiTS: I'm doing very well indeed, thank you. You

sound in fine fettle.

OKD: Well, I'm doing pretty good. I'm so happy to
get to talk to you finally. I'm sorry that we got

sidetracked when my
health went bad there

for a little bit.

BiTS: Yes, I understand that.
Listen let me tell you what I want

to do. I want to talk to you first of
all about how you got into music in the
first place, and then your life with the
Howlers, and then finish up on talking about

how you are now. Is that okay?

OKD: That sounds like a good plan to me.

BiTS: Okay, well let's start at the beginning. You were born in McComb, Mississippi
which is pretty famous for at least two people, maybe three, if we include you, that
came from there. What's it actually like as a town? Is it a small town?

OKD: Well, it's not so small now, but it was pretty small when I was growing up.
It's grown a lot since I've been away from there, which has been a long time. It