The Dwight Twilley Band, “Sincerely” (1975), <i> Shelter/MCA</i>

Buddy Holly’s Crickets, out of Lubbock, Tex., were heavy inspiration for the Beatles, and the influence came full circle several years later when Austin natives Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour listened to the Fab Four and started their own band (Twilley and Seymour met, in fact, at a screening of “A Hard Day’s Night”).

The Dwight Twilley Band combined the best of Buddy and the Beatles, drawing out syllables with Holly-hiccupy vocals and harmonizing as effectively as any of the Mersey Beat bands (just listen to “You Were So Warm”). The boys also knew how to bring down the rain with a Lou Christie-like falsetto (“I’m Losing You”).

For all those ingredients, however, the keys to these songs are simplicity (check out “Could Be Love,” “Baby, Let’s Cruise” and “Release Me”) and music that just feels good. Two straight-ahead rockers deserve special mention: “I’m on Fire,” a raucous rockabilly number that hit the Top 20 in ‘75, and “TV,” in which Twilley happily tells us “TV, TV, sometimes, baby, it’s pretty good company.” The same can be said for this album.