Omar & the Howlers is a Texas based electric blues and blues rock band, formed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi in 1973 by the blues guitarist and singer Omar Kent Dykes. Three years later they moved to Austin, Texas. The band has regularly toured European countries.
Dykes grew up in McComb, Mississippi, began playing the guitar at age 7 and joined his first band at 12. In his 20s, he gathered a group of musicians who started calling themselves 'the Howlers'. They specialized in frat parties and were a party band, playing music that included both "R&B, R&R and even the occasional polka and western swing tune". Dykes has said he remembers these days fondly. It was around this time that he started calling himself Omar and developed his penchant for the blues.
