Guest post
Dwight Twilley was one of those shoulda-been coulda-been rockers. But he’ll never really be forgotten by any fan of twangy power-pop. Twilley’s “I’m on Fire” can be found on pretty much any list of best songs in the power-pop genre. The 1975 release was part of a wave of songs that balanced the stripped-down force of emerging punk with the melodic hooks of the Beatles and sunshine pop. It’s still going strong as a persistent sub-genre of pop-rock.
Twilley added a rockabilly charge to the music, no surprise for a guy from Tulsa who began his career learning from Sun Records producer Ray Harris after he and partner Phil Seymour decided to drive to Memphis to see what happened. Harris liked them but thought their voices were too sweet. “Y’all sing like pussies,” he told them. He didn’t have to tell them twice. Twilley collaborated a bit with Tom Petty right after that but only one of them became a superstar.
“I’m on Fire” was a hit, but record-label problems — that old story — hobbled him. The Dwight Twilley Band put out two unsuccessful follow-up albums, then Twilley went on his own. He scored a mild second hit with “Girls” in 1984.
Here’s a lively 1982 version of “I’m on Fire,“ with Susan Cowsill as backup singer and brother John Cowsill on drums. The Cowsill family band had pop hits in the ‘60s and were the models for the Partridge Family, though actually a pretty good band.
Twilley’s band was never the same without drummer and co-singer Seymour, who left after the first two albums for a solo career that was similarly a flop on sales charts but a hit with critics.
Seymour’s best-known song was “Precious to Me,” which can also be found on a few best-of power-pop lists.
