It’s easy to see why since Howlin’ Wolf songs are primal blasts of passionate Chicago blues. The big, bulky icon was a unique interpreter, particularly of Willie Dixon’s provocative songs. Howlin’ Wolf would take a tune and make it his own. That’s why so many classic songs penned by Dixon are known as Howlin’ Wolf numbers.

The latest accomplished group to take a crack at Howlin’ Wolf numbers is Omar and the Howlers. The dynamic Austin-based band recorded 14 classics immortalized by Howlin’ Wolf and 1 track written by Dykes inspired by the Wolf. “I do my little versions of the songs,” Omar Dykes says. “If Howlin’ Wolf was a 500-pound steel anvil, then I'm a little piece of steel wool that fell out of the pack.

Dykes, who is what the late DJ Wolfman Jack might have sounded like if he sang, is being humble to a fault. Omar and the Howlers, which has been making swaggering, celebratory electric blues rock out of America’s live music Mecca, Austin, since 1976, is a musical treasure.