..:: audio-music dot info ::..

The Traveling Wilburys was a supergroup consisting of George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. During the short time they were together they recorded two albums.

History
Initially starting at a meal between Roy Orbison, George Harrison, and Jeff Lynne, they got together at Bob Dylan's studio at Santa Monica, California to record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison's "This Is Love". Tom Petty's involvement was by chance as Harrison had left his guitar at Petty's house. The song they came up with was "Handle with Care". However, the record company immediately realized it was too good to be released as a "single filler". They enjoyed working together so much that they decided to create an album together. Written by all its members, the album was recorded over a ten-day period in May 1988 because Dylan was due to go on tour. Released on October 18, 1988 (under various pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr.), the album Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 was in 1989 ranked #70 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 1980s. It was later nominated for a Grammy under the category Album of the Year. The death of band member Roy Orbison (on December 6, 1988) prevented further full collaborations; however, the band continued without him. The band even finished the video for "End of the Line". In the scene where the verse is sung by Orbison, the viewer is shown Orbison's guitar in a rocking chair followed by a photo of the late artist. "Wilburys" was a slang term coined by Harrison and Lynne during the recording of Cloud Nine as a reference to recorded "flubs" that could be eliminated during the mixing stage (i.e. "'We'll bury' them in the mix"). The term was used again when the entire group was together. Harrison suggested "The Trembling Wilburys" as the group's name, but Lynne suggested using "Traveling" instead. Everyone agreed. The Traveling Wilburys contributed the title track "Nobody's Child" to the album Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal, released on July 24, 1990. The album was a benefit for the Romanian Angel Appeal, a charity launched by Olivia Harrison, Barbara Bach, Yoko Ono and Linda McCartney to help the orphaned children of Romania. A second album entitled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 was released on October 30, 1990. However, the album met with less success. Harrison once claimed in an MTV interview that the band had written material for a Vol. 2, but the material was stolen before completion. The "official" story (that is, from the perspective of the fictional Wilbury family) is that Vol. 3 was written and performed by a different set of Wilburys (hence the new Wilbury names), and that they skipped Vol. 2 so that title could be used if the original band ever reunites. This was a final nod to Orbison, effectively saying that the original band could never reunite. In the booklet contained in the 2007 box set (below), the album name is credited to 'George being George'.

The 2007 revival
 In the late 90s and early 2000s, the two Traveling Wilburys albums had limited availability and were out of print in most territories. Harrison, as primary holder of the rights, did not reissue them prior to his death. In June 2007, the two albums were reissued as a two CD and one DVD box set, originally announced by Tom Petty on his XM radio show and in the February 2007 edition of Q Magazine in an interview with Jeff Lynne. The Traveling Wilburys reissue resulted in two editions of The Traveling Wilburys Collection release. Firstly, a standard edition (in a double Digipak packaging) which features both CD albums (with bonus tracks) and a DVD with a documentary and music videos, along with a 16-page booklet, and secondly a deluxe boxed edition with the same CDs and DVD, plus extensive 40-page booklet and artist postcards and photographs. On the iTunes Store, a digital version of The Traveling Wilburys Collection contains both albums with bonus tracks, the twenty-four- minute documentary, and five music videos. The release surprised many when it debuted straight at number one in the UK Album Charts. The collection entered the charts at #9 on the US Billboard 200 (Billboard Magazine, for the week ending June 30, 2007). The group also hit number one on the Australian album charts, Amazon's pre-order and sales list, and iTunes. The Traveling Wilburys Collection also debuted at #1 in the United World Chart. The album sold 500,000 copies worldwide during the first 3 weeks and remained in the UK top 5 for seven weeks after its release.

Members
The Traveling Wilburys of Volume 1 were:

• Nelson Wilbury - George Harrison
• Otis Wilbury - Jeff Lynne
• Lefty Wilbury - Roy Orbison
• Charlie T. Jr. Wilbury - Tom Petty
• Lucky Wilbury - Bob Dylan

The Traveling Wilburys of Volume 3 were:

• Spike Wilbury - George Harrison
• Clayton Wilbury - Jeff Lynne
• Muddy Wilbury - Tom Petty
• Boo Wilbury - Bob Dylan

Additional named Traveling Wilburys on the 2007 Collection were:

• Buster Sidebury - Jim Keltner
• Ayrton Wilbury - Dhani Harrison
  

Jim Keltner, the session drummer and percussionist, was not listed as a Wilbury in Volume 1 or 3; however he is in some of the music videos. In the DVD released in 2007, he is given the Wilbury nickname 'Buster Sidebury'. Furthermore, overdubs to the unreleased tracks "Maxine" and "Like A Ship" credit Ayrton Wilbury, a pseudonym for Dhani Harrison.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia