Austin, besides being the Texas state capital, is home to much of the best in American roots music. Since the 1970s, ballsy blues players, renegade country pickers, and raw-voiced rockers have mixed & matched their musical styles in Austin’s thriving club scene. And that’s where Kent “Omar” Dykes holds court too. And it’s also where he’s recorded his latest Ruf album, Boogie Man, working with some of his adopted hometown’s most famous songwriters and musicians.
He hails from McComb, Miss., a town with the curious distinction of being home turf for both Bo Diddley and Britney Spears. It’s well established that Omar started playing guitar at seven, took to hanging out in edge-of-town juke joints at 12, joined his first band at 13 – the next youngest player being 50 – and played the sort of music where somebody bustin’ a cap at somebody else was just added percussion.
He was still Kent Dykes in those days, but by the time he hit 20 he had hooked up with a crazy-assed party band, called the Howlers, who specialized in playing frat parties. Looking back, he says, “We had two saxophone players on baritone and tenor who wore Henry Kissinger masks. They were called the Kissinger brothers. Not on every song, mind you. Sometimes it was Dolly Parton playing saxophone. Or Cher. And we had these cardboard cutouts from record stores for skits.” They even did fake ads for Sunshine Collard Greens and Howlers’ Fried Chicken – “for that old-fashioned taste that tastes just like Grandma.”
It was a crazy time, but a helluva lot of fun too, with the rough & tumble Howlers playing R&B, R&R and even the occasional polka and western swing tune. A decade earlier and 250 miles north of McComb, Steve Cropper and Duck Dunn had learned their chops exactly the same way as members of the Memphis party band the Mar-Keys.
But Kent Dykes mostly just wanted to play blues. And by then the other Howlers had taken to calling him “Omar Overtone” because he tended to let his guitar feed back on stage while he dropped to the floor to spin on his back in a spontaneous, Big & Tall Store take on break-dancing. As he says, those performances were “sometimes fueled by, a-hmm, alcohol.”
By 1976, the Howlers decided they were ready to bust a big move and relocate to Austin, where such clubs as the Soap Creek Saloon, the Broken Spoke, the Armadillo World Headquarters and Antone’s had created a haven for renegade music. “We worked out of Austin for about a year,” Omar says, “but a lot of the guys decided they weren’t cut out to play music full-time for the rest of their lives. They headed back to Mississippi and Arkansas, and I decided to keep the name. Nobody objected.” And as Dykes says, Omar & the Howlers works better than Kent & the Howlers. Of such decisions are careers made.
Fronting a new lineup, Dykes honed a band capable of the sort of raw, rowdy, rambunctious blues that made Howlin’ Wolf and Hound Dog Taylor legends and inspired Don Van Vliet to become Captain Beefheart.
By then the Fabulous Thunderbirds were also getting started in Austin and T-Bird member Jimmie Vaughan’s kid brother, Stevie Ray, had formed Triple Threat with Lou Ann Barton, future Double Trouble-r Chris Layton and Jackie Newhouse (LeRoi Brothers). The T-Birds were the first to record, cutting their debut in 1979, but Omar wasn’t far behind with Big Leg Beat in 1980. His second, I Told You So, in 1984 made them the big men on the block – or at least along Austin’s famed Sixth Street – earning them consecutive Austin band-of-the-year awards in 1985-1986.
The following year Omar signed with Columbia Records and cut Hard Times in the Land of Plenty (1987), which sold in excess 500,000 copies, and Wall of Pride (1988). Since then there have been another dozen albums, all of them featuring Omar’s guitar and baritone voice, which reviewers describe as a cross between Howlin’ Wolf in his prime and the warning growl of a large primate. Hyperbole aside, the big man’s talents have earned an international following, prestigious awards and induction into the Texas musicians’ Hall of Fame.
For Boogie Man, his newest release on the Ruf label, Omar has brought in some of the songwriter friends he’s made in the 27 years since he left Mississippi for Texas. Ten of the 11 tracks on the 55-minute disc are collaborations. “Co-writing at this point in my life is a lot of fun. To me it’s like free songs. These are ones that I wouldn’t have had the patience to sit down and write on my own. But when you get with friends and drink coffee, tell jokes and stories, and then write something, it always turns out to be something different than what you might have done on your own.”
Plus it’s not exactly heavy lifting to work with such Texas icons as Ray Wyle Hubbard, Darden Smith, Alejandro Escovedo and Stephen Bruton. “Some of them I hadn’t seen for a while,” Omar says, “because like me they’re in bands and on the road. So when we got together, we end up reminiscing a lot. For instance, I’ve known Ray Wyle off and on for 20 years – acquaintances for a long time but pretty good friends now. In the old days, he was busy drinking and partying on his own, and I had my own party going on too.”
Besides the songwriting collaborators, Omar also brought some friends into the recording studio, including guitarists Chris Duarte and Jon Dee Graham (True Believers), Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Double Trouble, George Rains (Sir Douglas Quintet and house drummer on scores of Antone’s label releases) and his frequent running-mates Terry Bozzio (Missing Persons, Jeff Beck, Frank Zappa) and Malcolm “Papa Mali” Welbourne.
About the recording process, Omar says, “I played out for seven and a half months, with only a few days off, and I’d spend those cutting in the studio. I would have liked to take the time off to relax, but it was a lot of satisfaction writing and recording with my friends too. This was an album I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time.”
As for future plans, Omar says he’ll be back on the road soon. “I still do 150-160 shows a year, and with travel days that adds up to a lot of time away from home. It always seems like we’re on a plane headed somewhere.” Omar is touring currently with bassist Barry Bihm and drummer Jon Hahn.
Or as he sums things up in “That’s Just My Life”:
It’s a long way from Pittsburgh down to Knoxville, Tenn.,
But I’m in it for the long haul, and that’s all right with me.
Night-time keeps me in the roadhouse, daylight’s burning up the miles,
The blacktop goes forever, I was born a highway child.
Credit http://www.omarandthehowlers.com/home.html and Copyright to the parties where in the weblink-Bermont/follower of the Howlers
See Also: http://www.last.fm/music/+noredirect/Omar+and+The+Howlers
Rattlesnake Shake
Omar & The Howlers Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Bad luck and trouble ride on my tail
I got rattlesnake blood runnin through my veins
You turn around and I'm gone again
People know me ever where I go
Men don't understand but the little girls know
I pick em up and I put em down
It makes em nervous when I move around
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the get-goin fever in my travelin bones
I got the rattlesnake shake and I gotta move on
Been everwhere and back again
I need to move I'm a movin' man
I got highway fever I'm a rollin stone
The shirt on my back is all own
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the get-goin fever in my travelin bones
I got the rattlesnake shake and I gotta move on
Guitar
People know me ever where I go
Men don't understand but the little girls know
I pick em up and I put em down
It makes em nervous when I move around
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the get-goin fever in my travelin bones
I got the rattlesnake shake and I gotta move on
I got hell hounds on my trail
Bad luck and trouble ride on my tail
I got rattlesnake blood runnin through my veins
You turn around and I'm gone again
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I got the get-goin fever in my travelin bones
I got the rattlesnake shake and I gotta move on
(repeat 2 times)
The song Rattlesnake Shake by Omar & The Howlers is an upbeat blues rock song about a man who's constantly on the move, chased by bad luck and trouble. He sings about having rattlesnake blood running through his veins, which may be a reference to his wild and unpredictable nature. He is known by people everywhere he goes, and while men don't understand him, the little girls do. He's a seducer who picks them up and puts them down but also makes them nervous when he moves around.
The lyrics convey a sense of restlessness and a desire to keep moving, fueled by the "get-goin fever" in his traveling bones. He's a rolling stone who's been everywhere and back again but still needs to keep moving. The guitar solo in the middle of the song adds to the energy and excitement of the track.
Overall, Rattlesnake Shake is a song about a free-spirited man who's always on the move, never settling down, and always looking for the next adventure.
Line by Line Meaning
I got hell hounds on my trail
I'm being pursued by my mistakes and troubles from the past
Bad luck and trouble ride on my tail
My problems keep following me wherever I go
I got rattlesnake blood runnin through my veins
I have an intense drive and desire to keep moving and shaking things up
You turn around and I'm gone again
I can't stay in one place for too long, always on the move
People know me ever where I go
I leave an impression on those I come across in my travels
Men don't understand but the little girls know
I have a magnetic, charming quality that attracts women
I pick em up and I put em down
I have a habit of getting involved with women but quickly moving on
It makes em nervous when I move around
My unpredictable nature can put people on edge
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
I have an uncontrollable urge to keep moving and shaking things up
I got the get-goin fever in my travelin bones
I have a restless spirit and need to keep moving forward
I got highway fever I'm a rollin stone
I am constantly on the move and don't like to stay in one place for too long
The shirt on my back is all own
I have very few possessions and prefer to live lightly
Guitar
Instrumental break
I got hell hounds on my trail
My past mistakes and troubles continue to follow and haunt me
Bad luck and trouble ride on my tail
I can't seem to shake off my problems, they constantly follow me
I got the shake I got the rattlesnake shake
My restless spirit and need to keep moving fuels my lively and unpredictable nature
I got the get-goin fever in my travelin bones
I can't help but feel a constant urge to keep moving and exploring
You turn around and I'm gone again
I can't be pinned down, always ready to move on to the next adventure
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: KENT DYKES, TERRY MANNING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Ulf Berggren
This song is so good and they are a great live band
Adam
Such an awesome song! Love it 👊🏼👊🏼
Anders Blomén
One of my all time favourite songs.
SDPadresFan
Why is the audio for this video so much louder and crisper than the vast majority of YouTube music videos? Seriously. Why can't they all sound this good?
Final Touch Auto Detailing llc
I wondered how many people would have left comments about the 80s movie speed zone. You guys must be around my age to know and appreciate this song ..
Mallory M
YES.
Heinrich Promeisl
Hippy Hippy Shake !!!!!
Chris Tian
Speed Zone/Cannonball Run anyone?
Michael Russell
Races a Jag in a Lamborghini Countasch
Tibb91
I totally loved that scene.