For those of you who haven't heard Omar sing before, or if you've somehow forgotten one of the most distinctive voices this side of Tom Waits, he rasps like a buzz saw in desperate need of oil, growls like a Harley-Davidson that doesn't know what the word muffler means, and is one of the sweetest sounding Blues singers you'll ever hear. If part of Jimmy Reed's popularity stems from the fact that he wrote about the realities of a working life, Omar Kent Dykes' voice was created to sing about them.
There aren't many Blues singers around who you're going to believe have spent time on the floor of a steel foundry, having to shout to be heard over the thousand gallon vats of molten metal boiling and the roar of fires hotter then the flames of hell. But listening to Omar singing "Big Boss Man" you can see him pitching coal into the maw of those furnaces to keep them blasting or doing any number of the back breaking jobs that fuel the North American economy.
Jimmie Vaughan may not be as famous as his brother Stevie Ray was, but the other half of Double Trouble is still a Blues guitar player to be reckoned with. I haven't heard him play since the days of Double Trouble, and he sounds like a far more complete guitar player now then he ever did. He had always been able to match his brother lick for lick when they played together and on this recording he shows he knows how to savour the notes as well as rip them apart.
I can't think of anything better then listening to an accomplished player who can still sound like each note he plays is something new and wondrous to be treasured. His touch is so sure he never overextends his stay or rushes a note. If I can't hear and feel each and every note walking up my spine, it's not Blues guitar as far as I'm concerned. Jimmie Vaughan runs leads and chord progressions up and down your vertebrae so impeccably that their echo lives on in your nervous system long after he's done.
As they tool along, the boys are joined by some fellow travelers on the Jimmy Reed highway. While folk like Delbert McClinton, James Cotton, and Gary Clarke Junior stop by for a song apiece; Kim Wilson and Lou Ann Barton are around for a number of songs each. While Kim is taking care of Harmonica duties on the majority of cuts (not when James Cotton or Delbert are playing obviously enough) Lou Ann is providing vocal counterpoint to Omar's growl.
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