Omar Kent Dykes
Omar Kent Dykes (born Darryl Kent Dykes, 1950) is an American blues guitarist songwriter, and singer, living in Austin, Texas. His parents, Henry and Chrystine Dykes, supported him in his career from the time Omar was a young boy.
He began leading bands as an adolescent in his birthplace of McComb, Mississippi.
In 1973 he formed the band, Omar & the Howlers. The band plays electric Texas blues, rock and roll and blues-rock. Dykes has also had a successful career as a solo artist, and regularly toured 49 states in the United States and 23 countries.
Among his 36 albums are Blues Bag from 1991, and Muddy Springs Road from 1994.
Awards include the Netherlands Edison Award, Summit Street Mississippi Blues Trail Marker, Lifetime Achievement Award from Austin Music People, Outstanding Achievements in the Musical Arts from the City of McComb, Mississippi, Lifetime Career Award Bluebird Reviews, and a Texas Music Hall of Fame inductee.
Dykes was afflicted in 2017 with a skin illness that wasted away the flesh of his arms, and he lost the ability to perform in public. In 2020 he published a memoir, OMAR DYKES: The Life and Times of a Poor and Almost Famous Bluesman.
Dykes also wrote two books about his songwriting and recording career entitled Ballad of Old Leather Butt: A Collection of Songs Unsung, and Mississippi Hoo Doo Man: A Collection of Recorded Songs from Big Leg Beat to Muddy Springs Road.
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