The Traveling Wilburys were musical proof that, every so often, the stars will align just right and foster the creation of something historic, influential, and just plain cool. The band featured a lineup to end all lineups: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison. An all-star outfit of epic proportions, each musician had plenty to offer, including their respective musical legacies, many of which stretched back to the ‘60s.
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The sheer celebrity of it all almost made the whole thing seem random. A Beatle and Bob Dylan? The founder of Electric Light Orchestra and “Oh, Pretty Woman” singer Roy Orbison? It was a prime example of capturing lightning in a bottle, further proven by these five chance happenings that led to the formation of one of the greatest supergroups of all time.
George Harrison and Jeff Lynne’s Studio Equipment Failures
A band name isn’t always necessary to start a group, but it can certainly get the wheels turning, so to speak. George Harrison began working with Electric Light Orchestra founder Jeff Lynne in 1986 after a lengthy break from recording. Lynne served as a co-producer during the sessions at Harrison’s home studio in Henley-on-Thames.
Every so often, studio equipment failures would audibly show up on the recordings, to which Harrison would say, “We’ll bury ‘em in the mix.” They began calling any kind of flub a “wilbury,” inspiring Harrison to come up with the band name “The Trembling Wilburys.” Lynne countered with “Traveling Wilburys,” and the rest is history.
Bob Dylan’s Career Was Opportunistically Slow
The 1980s marked a notably different era of Bob Dylan’s career than his meteoric rise to fame in the 1960s. Sure, he was still the Bob Dylan. But a string of commercially unsuccessful albums had brought his career to somewhat of a low point. In that way, the timing of the Traveling Wilburys’ formation turned out to be ideal for Dylan and the rest of the band.
Had the group tried to find its footing in the mid-1960s (if we’re to assume momentarily that the Beatles weren’t at the height of their fame at this time), Dylan would have been far too hot a commodity to track down for a side project like a supergroup.
The Heartbreakers Worked As Dylan’s Backing Band
Had any other band worked with Bob Dylan in 1986 and 1987 for the latter artist’s “True Confession” and “Temples in Flames” tours, respectively, the Traveling Wilburys lineup might have looked a little different. Fortunately for us (and Tom Petty), it was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers who served as Dylan’s backing band on the international tours.
The European leg of the Dylan and Heartbreakers tour also helped kindle a friendship between Dylan, Petty, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne. Harrison and Lynne were in the U.K. around this time recording Harrison’s eleventh studio album, complete with “wilburys” buried in the mixes.
Tom Petty Was Housing A Friend’s Guitar
In a 1989 interview with BAM, Tom Petty said that meeting George Harrison and Jeff Lynne was like catching up with old friends. Petty and Lynne began collaborating (see: “Free Fallin’”), and Harrison grew so comfortable with Petty that he often left guitars at Petty’s California home when traveling back and forth from the West Coast to the U.K.
One day, Harrison realized he needed the guitar he had left at Petty’s house for a session. When he arrived, Harrison asked Petty if he wanted to join. “I’d been wondering what I was going to do the next day, so I said, ‘Sure, I’ll be there,’” Petty recalled.
Roy Orbison Being A Monty Python Fan
All five original members of the Traveling Wilburys had successful musical careers in common, but bonding over fame only gets you so far. What really drew the bandmates closer was their mutual love of Monty Python. Roy Orbison’s love and knowledge of the comedy troupe’s sketches impressed George Harrison, who worked with Monty Python in the 1970s.
“I’ll never forget being in the van…Roy was doing a Monty Python sketch, playing all the parts himself, which was really funny, then he started giggling,” Jeff Lynne recalled in the Traveling Wilburys biography. “This giggle was totally infectious. I still have the picture in my mind of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and me all giggling like a bunch of schoolgirls.”
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