The Traveling Wilburys:

A Supergroup

The Traveling Wilburys, a folk-rock band during the late 1980s, had a short yet successful career. The five members included five well-known musicians coming from England and America. They had careers that were very successful such as George Harrison’s career as The Beatles’ lead guitarist and Tom Petty’s career as the lead singer and guitarist of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. What made these successful musicians come together and merge genres to become the Traveling Wilburys?

According to Mo Ostin on The Traveling Wilburys’ website, George Harrison was working on the release of his single, “This is Love” and was asked by his label to create a B-side for this single. He along with his friends spent time together at Bob Dylan’s studio and made music. The song that came out of their time together was “Handle with Care,” but it was a song too good for a B-side and needed to be made into an album. The idea of a collaboration was in the works. George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty and Roy Orbison make up The Traveling Wilburys. The creation of their band name was started by Harrison and Lynne who called some studio equipment “wilburys.”

The name that was inspired by Harrison and Lynne’s nickname was “The Trembling Wilburys.”