{"id":26996,"date":"2024-04-18T05:30:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T09:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26996"},"modified":"2024-02-02T10:59:28","modified_gmt":"2024-02-02T15:59:28","slug":"twilley-dont-stop-part-3-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/18\/twilley-dont-stop-part-3-of-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Twilley Don’t Stop (Part 3 of 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"Now and Always<\/b>
\nAmidst all the closet-clearing archival sets, the most notable release of new music from Dwight Twilley in the 21st<\/sup> century would be 2014\u2019s Always<\/i>. Recorded over a number of years, Always<\/i> featured a who\u2019s who of luminaries from the power pop universe and beyond. \u201cI got players<\/i>,\u201d Jan says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I became a co-producer: because Dwight said, \u2018The job of being a producer is getting the record made.\u2019\u201d Jan says she called up every good player who was famous and who was a fan of her husband and his music.<\/p>\n

The Always<\/i> sessions would feature acclaimed bassist Leland Sklar, members of 20\/20 and The Posies, Tommy Keene, Susan Cowsill and Mitch Easter. Bill Pitcock IV also played on sessions for Always<\/i>, in what would turn out to be one of his final appearances on record (he passed away in 2011). \u201cAll these cats that had mutual admiration were working together,\u201d Jan recalls. \u201cIt was a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a pattern that dated back to Twilley\u2019s earliest work, Always<\/i> earned positive, often enthusiastic reviews; wider commercial success for the tuneful, hooky and highly accessible music remained largely beyond his grasp. Meanwhile, he kept busy. In 2018 Twilley earned a prominent spot on the bill for that year\u2019s Arroyo Seco Festival in Pasadena, California, a two-day festival featuring headliners Neil Young, Jack White, Kings of Leon and Robert Plant. Twilley presented a well-received set that brought his music to new audiences.<\/p>\n

But Always<\/i> would be the final collection of new material released during his lifetime. In the period after that record\u2019s release, Twilley continued writing and recording as he had always done; there was every reason to think that another album of new songs would eventually appear, be it on a small independent label or even self-released.<\/p>\n

The evocative nature of Twilley\u2019s music lends itself to use in TV and film. \u201cLookin\u2019 for the Magic\u201d was featured in the 2013 horror film You\u2019re Next<\/i>, and Tia Carrere\u2019s cover of his \u201cWhy You Wanna Break my Heart\u201d featured prominently in 1992\u2019s Wayne\u2019s World<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\"\"In recent years, similar multimedia uses for his music have continued. In August 2023, Twilley\u2019s signature tune \u201cI\u2019m on Fire\u201d was featured in an episode of Reservation Dogs<\/i>, the popular and critically acclaimed TV comedy series. That placement exposed Twilley\u2019s music to yet more listeners who might not have known it. To date, the song has received nearly 1.7 million streams on Spotify.<\/p>\n

Around the same time, Twilley cut harmony vocals for songs to be featured on Paul Collins\u2019 upcoming album, including “I’m the Only One for You,” released January 26, 2024. \u201cI borrowed a $25,000 Neumann mic from the Church Studio where Dwight cut \u2018I\u2019m on Fire,\u2019\u201d Jan says. That overdub session would be Twilley\u2019s last.<\/p>\n

Any hopes for new music from the Tulsa legend were dashed with news of Dwight Twilley\u2019s tragic and unexpected death on 18 October 2023.<\/p>\n

Jan recalls the days just before Dwight\u2019s death. She was fretting that their car was falling apart; it was time to buy a new one. She had her eye on one in particular, a Fiat 500. \u201cDo you really want it?\u201d Dwight asked her. She said yes, as it had heated leather seats and XM Satellite Radio. \u201cYou can get the Beatles Channel,\u201d she told him. \u201cBuy it,\u201d he said with a smile. With a nod to the Reservation Dogs<\/i> sync placement, he told her, \u201cI\u2019m On Fire is buying it.\u201d The Twilleys bought their new car on 11 September.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks later, Dwight Twilley was on his way to pick up lunch. \u201cI assume he was listening to The Beatles,\u201d Jan says. \u201cAnd he had a massive stroke on the right side of his brain.\u201d His car jumped the median and crashed into a tree. \u201cThe car was totalled,\u201d Jan says. \u201cEvery air bag was deployed, but Dwight didn\u2019t have a scratch on his face. He came into this world a pretty boy, and that\u2019s how he left it.\u201d After several days in the hospital and on life support, he passed away quietly, with Susan Cowsill, longtime friend and lead guitarist Rat Matthews, and his wife Jan at his side. He was 72.<\/p>\n

\"\"Twilley Don\u2019t Stop<\/b>
\nJan Twilley owns the publishing and recording masters to nearly everything Dwight ever did (\u201cexcept Twilley<\/i>,\u201d she says), so she has creative and artistic control over releases.<\/p>\n

Reissues and archival releases drawing from Twilley\u2019s extensive body of work continue to provide opportunities to rediscover his artistry. In 2017, Chicago-based indie HoZac Records released Pre-Dwight Twilley Band 1973-1974 TEAC Tapes<\/i>, credited to Oister. The high quality and expertly curated 2LP set served up 20 tracks that had circulated \u2013 in dodgy fidelity \u2013 among collectors and bootleggers for many years.<\/p>\n

Another recent title is the first-ever vinyl release of The Best of Twilley: The Tulsa Years 1996-2016, Volume One<\/i>. The 20-track double LP set is a well-curated survey of his independent label years.<\/p>\n

Recalling her perspective from the years during which she first got to know Dwight Twilley, Jan says that \u2013 then as now \u2013 she believed he was \u201cthe best singer on the planet.\u201d With the benefit of many years together, she now amends that assessment. \u201cDwight Twilley was a damn good songwriter and a really good player, too,\u201d she says. \u201cIt all came from his gut. He was born to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part Two… Now and Always Amidst all the closet-clearing archival sets, the most notable release of new music from Dwight Twilley in the 21st century would be 2014\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,55,62],"tags":[735,5355],"class_list":["post-26996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-powerpop","category-rawk","tag-dwight-twilley","tag-oister","cat-41-id","cat-55-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26996"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27015,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26996\/revisions\/27015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}