(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Sun 2 November 2025 18:05, UK
Despite the fact that all of the members of the Traveling Wilburys had been active songwriters and performers since the 1950s and ‘60s, that doesn’t mean that by the time they formed in the late ‘80s, they were all completely out of touch with delivering the music that people wanted to hear.
Between the five original members, the band had enough talent to keep themselves going for many years, but the untimely passing of Roy Orbison shortly before they reentered the studio to record a second album meant that their strengths were diminished through the loss of their most senior member; one who the other members had looked up to as a source of inspiration ever since they began working together.
That didn’t necessarily get in the way of the band continuing to write exceptional material together, and considering that none of them had declined in their own output, at least not to a degree where they’d lost their entire following, they were able to continue and write songs that still felt relevant and of their time. Bob Dylan may have had one of his weakest spells during the 1980s, but by comparison to other songwriters, he remained virtually untouchable, and while Tom Petty was at the peak of his powers, both George Harrison and Jeff Lynne were producing material that seemed to stand up to their earlier achievements.
For Harrison, he simply adored playing with what was ostensibly a group of his closest friends and his favourite songwriters in the world, and he knew that there were plenty of ways that they could keep things fresh when it came to collaborating with one another, and not simply regurgitating elements of their own solo output.
“I just loved playing with the Traveling Wilburys,” he would later claim in a 1992 interview with Guitar World. “There was so much input from everybody, and we were all relieved to be in a band of equals where no one had to worry about doing all the lead vocals or all the writing.”
However, he did concede that despite the overwhelming response to their first album together, the second one, released in 1990, proved to be a step down in terms of the way it was received. “I think a lot of people who liked the first album didn’t get the second one, Traveling Wilburys Vol 3.”
Despite this lukewarm reception, Harrison stood by their decision to look back in time to the things that had inspired them when they were first starting out as songwriters, and there was one song from the second record that he argued was timeless. “A song like ‘New Blue Moon’ has that slap-back echo and the feel of all those great ‘50s records I loved,” he continued. “It stands up to modern technology, yet has the brightness and feel of a real rockabilly record from the ‘50s or early ‘60s. It made me feel like I’d come full circle in a way.”
While this mixed response to the record ultimately caused Harrison to lose faith in the group, essentially being the member responsible for disbanding them shortly after the release of their second and final album, he was still proud of what they’d managed to achieve together in such a short time, and the fact that they stuck to their principles and emulated their idols in a way that felt fresh was something he could reflect upon fondly.
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