Dwight Twilley Band

Oister, Shelter and I'm on Fire

Dwight Twilley, born June 6, 1951 in Tulsa, and Phil Seymour met in 1967 at a screening of A Hard Day's Night and bonded over the Beatles, writing and recording as Oister. In the early 1970s they went to Memphis and to Ray Harris's studio in Tupelo, Mississippi, crediting Harris with introducing them to rockabilly. In 1974 they moved to Los Angeles and signed to Shelter, the label of Leon Russell and Denny Cordell, which renamed them the Dwight Twilley Band; the lead guitarist Bill Pitcock IV became a credited member. Twilley wrote all the band's songs, and wrote Seymour's songs for his voice.

"I'm on Fire", their debut single, came out in April 1975 on Shelter, with "Did You See What Happened?" on the B-side, and reached 16 on the Hot 100. In 1975 they recorded in England at Trident Studios with the producer Robin Cable for an album to be called Fire that was never released after Shelter lost its distribution deal; most of those tracks later became The B Album. Sincerely came out in July 1976, about a year after the single, and the follow-up single "You Were So Warm" failed on distribution, as Twilley said, the company went under. They recorded live at the Agora in Cleveland in October 1976, released in 2009 as Live from Agora. Twilley Don't Mind (1977, Arista) reached 70, with Tom Petty on "Looking for the Magic". Seymour left in 1978, having a solo hit with "Precious to Me", and the band ended.

Twilley went solo, with Twilley (1979), Scuba Divers (1982) and Jungle (1984), whose "Girls" reached 16 with a Petty counter-vocal. He died on October 18, 2023 in Tulsa, aged 72; Seymour died on August 17, 1993, aged 41. Clem Burke of Blondie said in 2018 that when he thinks of Tulsa he thinks of one of his favorite bands, the Dwight Twilley Band. Americana UK places them among the first 1970s power-pop groups and cites their influence on UK new wave, and a 2023 Cherry Red box set of American power pop is named for Twilley's "Looking for the Magic".