When Ron Flynt began writing “Back to California,” the jangly title track and lead single of the first 20/20 album in twenty-seven years, he had no idea that the line “Not everybody wants to burn it down” would eventually be heard against the backdrop of the January L.A. wildfires. “Honestly, I thought that was a marijuana reference,” he says. “Here in Texas, when they say, ‘Let’s burn one,’ they’re talking about smoking a little pot. But it does give me a bit of a shiver because I feel a really strong connection with California.”
The “strong connection” between 20/20 and the Golden State looms large in power-pop lore. Inspired by the success of their fellow Tulsa homeboy Dwight Twilley, Flynt and his boyhood pal Steve Allen picked up their basses and guitars (respectively) and headed west in 1977, whereupon they added the drummer Mike Gallo and the keyboardist Chris Silagyi and released two enduringly hooky albums on Portrait Records (20/20, Look Out!). Hits eluded them, but they performed on American Bandstand, and their pharmacologically prescient B-side “Yellow Pills” became a compilation staple.
Only three more 20/20 albums appeared before Y2K. Meanwhile, Flynt moved to Austin, Allen moved to Nashville, both ran successful recording studios, and their band became a memory—that is, until 2018, when they found themselves backing Twilley at the second annual Arroyo Seco Weekend in Pasadena. “Steve was playing me some songs backstage,” Flynt recalls, “including one that became ‘Springtime Love Song’ from the new record. So we started talking, and it made sense to start writing and recording together again.”
Big Stir Records agreed, and Back to California is the result. Awash in hooks and Byrdsy harmonies and anchored by the drumming of Ron’s son Ray, it seeds the group’s halcyon sound with the wistfulness and wisdom of experience.
But when will Allen and Flynt finally release a 20/20 best-of called—what else?—Hindsight? “That would be great,” says Allen, “if we could get Sony to let us win that lawsuit”—a class-action dustup over master tapes. Until it’s resolved, assembling a collection of 20/20 highlights will have to wait.
“But at least now,” says Allen, “we know what we’ll call it.”
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