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We had a guy that could play steel guitar and piano and baritone sax. So he would
play the steel guitar in the western swing part of the band, and I had a good voice
for either blues or western swing. So we kind of went over big. We'd play a place

that wanted country would lead more into the western swing than the rock and roll,
and when we played the rock and roll club, we'd lean more into the rock and roll.

BiTS: Was Antone’s open then?

OKD: Yeah, Antone’s was open. I wound up playing there with Asleep at the Wheel,
but we weren't blues enough to play there, to headline by ourselves. We did a lot of
blues and we played good blues, but the Howlers weren't Omar and the Howlers.

Omar and the Howlers were a blues band. But the Howlers played everything you
can think of – Johnny Cash, Tony Joe White, The Beatles and the Stones. Bob Wills,
we played Bob Wills and stuff, so it was kind of two bands in one.

BiTS: I'm told, at least I've read somewhere, that over the years when you were with
Omar and the Howlers, you visited 36 countries. Would that be right?

OKD: No, no I went to 26, which is plenty because I didn't just go one time, I went

back and forth to all of them over and over and over.

BiTS: Did you ever come here to the UK?

Lonnie Mack, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Omar

OKD: Oh yeah. I played in the UK a lot. In Birmingham, Manchester, London,
Plymouth, Portsmouth. I played all of them. Over in Oxford, I had a good following

in Oxford.

BiTS: Yeah, that's great.