Rick Clark's Music I Love Blog: Dwight Twilley (Happy Birthday!)
June 6th is Dwight Twilley’s birthday. I’ve been wanting to shine a light on his music for a while, so today had to be the day.
If my memory serves me correctly, my friend Tommy Hoehn was given a vinyl copy of the Dwight Twilley Band debut album Sincerely and he passed it on to me. I’m pretty sure this was the last half of 1975 or maybe early 1976. It really wasn’t an official promo. There was no cover art, just a sleeve, and writing on a white label. When I got home, I couldn’t listen to enough of this Tulsa, OK band. It was so good. I don’t know where that copy went, but that sort of sums up a lot of things. Needless to say, I immediately got the released version of Sincerely upon release and I’ve had plenty of Dwight Twilley’s music since.
The first track I heard on that vinyl pressing was “I’m On Fire,” an infectious riff-heavy pop-rocker that seemed hardwired to blast out of car radios. Less than a year later, it would do just that as a national Top 20 hit. Every time I hear it I remember heading to Humko in Memphis to load trucks and boxcars with shortening and vegetable oil. That’s another story, but the song seemed to be one of the few bright moments on the radio at the time.
As much as I loved “I’m On Fire,” the rest of the album knocked me out with tracks like “Just Like The Sun,” “England,” “You Were So Warm” and the title track. It was this perfect blend of British Invasion, ’50’s and ’60s rock and pop elements, and rockabilly Sun Records reverb, but the resulting sound was utterly unique. Dwight Twilley’s records are immediately identifiable with one of the biggest signifiers being this glorious blend of reverb and delay, particularly on the vocals. If you haven’t heard his music, you will immediately hear it.
Phil Seymour, Twilley’s close friend and musical collaborator since they met in 1967, was the other main front person in the Dwight Twilley Band. They would have a second album, Twilley Don’t Mind, which was an impressive follow-up, though it didn’t produce the kind of radio buzz like “I’m On Fire.” Nevertheless, there are some knock-outs, particularly “Lookin’ For The Magic,” “Twilley Don’t Mind,” “That I Remember” and “Sleeping.” Thankfully, you can find these first two Dwight Twilley Band albums on iTunes, Spotify, and other streaming services.
After that second Dwight Twilley Band album, Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley pursued solo careers, though both can be heard singing background vocals on the first Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers album on tracks like “Breakdown,” “American Girl” and “Strangered In The Night,” which sounds like it could’ve easily been on a Twilley album.
The first solo Dwight Twilley album, simply titled Twilley, came out on the Shelter/Arista imprint in 1979. It seemed to immediately get lost in the shuffle and, as a result, I feel it is one of those great lost guitar pop-rock albums from the ‘70s. I haven’t been able to locate the album on any streaming service and only a few tracks on YouTube. Too bad, because if you like some of these other songs I’ve linked, then Twilley would be a real treat. It kills me I can’t find a YouTube of “It Takes A Lot of Love,” which is a fantastic rocker. Personally, Twilley and Sincerely are my two go-to Twilley albums. At the time Twilley was released in 1979, rock was already splitting in several directions, none which seemed an easy fit for Twilley’s unique sound. That is just my general sense of things looking back.
Speaking of the Twilley “sound,” there are a couple of other things that make the tracks feel distinctive, one is a hard eighth-note driven piano and guitar blend that gives the music an insistent rhythmic pulse, while the other is the fantastic guitar playing of Bill Pitcock IV. Pitcock is an unsung guitar hero in my book. His style is utterly melodic and totally rock and roll, sort of like if you stirred up George Harrison, John Lennon, Roger McGuinn, and Mike Campbell into one guitar player. His bass playing was equally impressive.
In 1984, Twilley scored his second big hit with “Girls,” which came off the album Jungle, which I don’t know if I’ve ever seen on CD. I’m sure some buddies reading this will certainly fill me in on that.
Dwight Twilley continues to release cool new music. My purpose here isn’t to get crazy deep into the weeds with a career overview. I’m simply sending some love and a Happy Birthday to Dwight Twilley and taking a moment to celebrate some of the reasons why his music matters to me.
I’ve stuck a pile of clips here for your listening - viewing fun. I hope you enjoy what you hear.
Dwight Twilley - “Somebody To Love” - from Scuba Diver (45 single version mixed by Jimmy Iovine, same guy who produced Tom Petty’s Damn The Torpedos) I wish I could find the album version, which I think is better. Still this is really good.
Here’s a TV performance of “Twilley Don’t Mind” with Phil Seymour on drums and singing lead, Dwight Twilley pounding the keys, Bill Pitcock IV on guitar and Tom Petty on bass. It is a fun view.
Here’s an unvarnished live club version of “Alone In My Room” that looks filmed in some café venue. The clip says WoodHouse living Room Show. I don’t know when this was done, but clearly they are having a lot of fun.
Dwight Twilley - “Girls” (Tom Petty - background vocal) This was Twilley’s 2nd big hit.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - “Strangered In The Night” (Dwight Twilley, Phil Seymour, background vocals) It doesn’t take much to hear how much Dwight and Phil’s sound complimented Tom’s.
Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Warner Records Strangered in the Night · Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers ℗ 1978 Gone Gator Records...