Who are your inspirations?
Oh, there`s been a lot. Jimmy Reed, Howlin` Wolf, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, there are so many. Rock-a-Billy, too. I like Carl Perkins. I got to play with Carl Perkins, several times. Man, he was great. He was really a Southern Gentleman. I went back stage the first time and I was just in awe. I going, “Mr. Perkins”, and he said, “Don`t call me that, call me Carl, please.” “Well, Carl, (that feels weird), can I call you Mr. Perkins?” “Call me what ever you want, son.” I said, “I stole a lot of your guitar licks.” He looked at me and said, “You didn`t get much. I can tell you that.” He was real humble, but he was great. I played with him in New York, oh, for a couple of weeks in a roll for three days a week. You know, him being one of my heroes, it was just wonderful being able to hear him. We heard them the first day they were sitting up and I said, “That doesn`t sound that good. I thought they were going to be great.” They were just horsing around. We were young and thought when they were doing sound check that was it. That night they were so good. That was probably 1976 or 1977. We were the green horns.
Just got the new record out and we are going around supporting that. Things are going real good for us. I hope everyone else likes it. It was really fun doing that record. Some of it was a jam and some of it was us really recording. It worked out. I try not to think about it too much. Maybe that`s why this one is doing better for me, I didn`t think much about it, I just did it. Some of them I might get some introspective on. This one started out as a jam and we just added to it. Maybe that`s the secret to it. Sometimes you get the tendency to put yourself underneath a magnifying glass a little too much. It`s not high art, it`s not classical music, it`s pretty much kind of ragged rhythm & blues, but fun.
Listening to Big Delta, it`s easy to see why it`s a success. Omar wrote 11 of the 12 songs on the CD and he plays with wonderfully talented players: Roscoe Beck, Malcolm ‘Papa Mali` Welbourne, Frosty Smith and Terry Bozzio. Omar`s artfully arranged voice dramatically opens Linin` Track, the first cut on the CD. He carries out the Swamp Blues sound on Mystery Walk, Low Down Dirty Blues and does an exceptional cover of Mississippi Queen. The Mississippi roots continue with a slow groove to Pushin` Fire. He keeps that funky sound going on Monkey Land and Muddy Springs Road. True to the blues and my personal favorites are Life Without You and Bad Seed. Of course the CD is seasoned with a little spicy rock on Wall of Pride and even a jitterbug dance tune, Caveman Rock. Conversation Mambo features Omar`s deep and unique voice set to a bluesy Mambo beat that takes you back to the beat generation.
I contacted Jim Yanaway, former owner of Amazing Records, and he had this to say about Omar:
“Omar is one of the very most talented and fun persons I have ever known. When it comes to his performance, it’s hard to top Omar. He has an extremely rich voice that’s instantly identifiable as “Omar”. His guitar playing is extraordinary. He can pull a lot of different feelings out of that box. I can tell you that Stevie Ray Vaughan was an admirer of Omar’s playing, and Stevie especially liked the honest rawness Omar brought to his playing. Omar grew up absorbing the Blues, so whatever he plays is totally honest and natural. Omar told me one time how he got started in music when he was in his early teens. He was living in McComb, Mississippi where Bo Diddley is from, and Omar started playing in a Blues and R&B band that got a regular gig at a place called something like “Mama Hattie’s Pancake House”. The place was down in the river bottom, and it was built on tall stilts to keep it above the river when it flooded. Omar used to have to lug his equipment up several flights of curving, rickety wooden stairs on the outside of the building to set up. I guess the older guys thought he was worth keeping because he would schlep all the PA and everything. Anyway, apparently this place was the real deal. The customers were in to REAL Blues, and you had to be good to keep them from turning on you. They may have been sort of a surly crowd because they were there not only for the Blues, but also there to wolf down pancakes and chase them with gin, rum and vodka. Omar told me they’d scarf down the pancakes, slug down a bottle of booze; then go to the railing and barf it all out - then start all over again. That’s the Blues.”
“Omar has long been a fixture on the international Blues scene, and he’s the real deal. In the late 1980s, I was taking an East German train in to Berlin on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). As the train left the dreary and dingy communist East Berlin area, it passed no-man’s land and pulled in to the brightly colored, ultra-modern West Berlin. Looking back toward the vividly painted graffitied West Berlin side of the Berlin Wall, the first thing I saw on the wall was a poster. That poster announced an extraordinary show coming to town, and featured in the poster was a photo of Omar! Omar & The Howlers were coming to town.” -Jim Yanaway
Omar truly is more than a musician. He`s an entertainer of colossal status.
Oh, there`s been a lot. Jimmy Reed, Howlin` Wolf, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, there are so many. Rock-
Just got the new record out and we are going around supporting that. Things are going real good for us. I hope everyone else likes it. It was really fun doing that record. Some of it was a jam and some of it was us really recording. It worked out. I try not to think about it too much. Maybe that`s why this one is doing better for me, I didn`t think much about it, I just did it. Some of them I might get some introspective on. This one started out as a jam and we just added to it. Maybe that`s the secret to it. Sometimes you get the tendency to put yourself underneath a magnifying glass a little too much. It`s not high art, it`s not classical music, it`s pretty much kind of ragged rhythm & blues, but fun.
Listening to Big Delta, it`s easy to see why it`s a success. Omar wrote 11 of the 12 songs on the CD and he plays with wonderfully talented players: Roscoe Beck, Malcolm ‘Papa Mali` Welbourne, Frosty Smith and Terry Bozzio. Omar`s artfully arranged voice dramatically opens Linin` Track, the first cut on the CD. He carries out the Swamp Blues sound on Mystery Walk, Low Down Dirty Blues and does an exceptional cover of Mississippi Queen. The Mississippi roots continue with a slow groove to Pushin` Fire. He keeps that funky sound going on Monkey Land and Muddy Springs Road. True to the blues and my personal favorites are Life Without You and Bad Seed. Of course the CD is seasoned with a little spicy rock on Wall of Pride and even a jitterbug dance tune, Caveman Rock. Conversation Mambo features Omar`s deep and unique voice set to a bluesy Mambo beat that takes you back to the beat generation.
I contacted Jim Yanaway, former owner of Amazing Records, and he had this to say about Omar:
“Omar is one of the very most talented and fun persons I have ever known. When it comes to his performance, it’s hard to top Omar. He has an extremely rich voice that’s instantly identifiable as “Omar”. His guitar playing is extraordinary. He can pull a lot of different feelings out of that box. I can tell you that Stevie Ray Vaughan was an admirer of Omar’s playing, and Stevie especially liked the honest rawness Omar brought to his playing. Omar grew up absorbing the Blues, so whatever he plays is totally honest and natural. Omar told me one time how he got started in music when he was in his early teens. He was living in McComb, Mississippi where Bo Diddley is from, and Omar started playing in a Blues and R&B band that got a regular gig at a place called something like “Mama Hattie’s Pancake House”. The place was down in the river bottom, and it was built on tall stilts to keep it above the river when it flooded. Omar used to have to lug his equipment up several flights of curving, rickety wooden stairs on the outside of the building to set up. I guess the older guys thought he was worth keeping because he would schlep all the PA and everything. Anyway, apparently this place was the real deal. The customers were in to REAL Blues, and you had to be good to keep them from turning on you. They may have been sort of a surly crowd because they were there not only for the Blues, but also there to wolf down pancakes and chase them with gin, rum and vodka. Omar told me they’d scarf down the pancakes, slug down a bottle of booze; then go to the railing and barf it all out -
“Omar has long been a fixture on the international Blues scene, and he’s the real deal. In the late 1980s, I was taking an East German train in to Berlin on Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras). As the train left the dreary and dingy communist East Berlin area, it passed no-
Omar truly is more than a musician. He`s an entertainer of colossal status.
