Group

Traveling Wilburys

From
Malibu, United States
Active
1988–1990
Rating
★ 5 (4 votes)
Releases
31
  • classic rock
  • country rock
  • folk rock
  • rock
  • rock and roll
  • singer-songwriter
  • soft rock

About

The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup formed in Los Angeles in 1988, consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty. They were described as "perhaps the biggest supergroup of all time".

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Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album Cloud Nine, the band formed in April 1988 after the five members united to record a bonus track for Harrison's next European single. When this collaboration, "Handle with Care", was deemed too good for such a limited release, the group agreed to record a full album, titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, released in October 1988. Following Orbison's death in December 1988, the Wilburys continued as a quartet and released a second album, incongruously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, in 1990.
The release of their debut album was much anticipated because of the stature of the participants. The band members adopted tongue-in-cheek pseudonyms as half-brothers from the fictional Wilbury family of travelling musicians. Vol. 1 was a critical and commercial success, helping to revitalise Dylan's career. In 1990, the album won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
Although Harrison envisioned a series of Wilburys albums and a film about the band, to be produced through his company HandMade, the group became dormant after 1991 and never officially reunited, though the individual members continued to collaborate on each other's solo projects at various times. Harrison died in 2001, followed by Petty in 2017, leaving Dylan and Lynne as the only surviving members. After being unavailable for several years, the two Wilburys albums were reissued by the Harrison estate in the 2007 box set The Traveling Wilburys Collection.

From Traveling Wilburys on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Members

Discography

Albums 7
Singles 7
Live 1
Compilations 16

Links

Tribute

Also known as

The Traveling Wilburys · The Travelling Wilburys · Travelling Wilburys · Travelling Willburys

Tags

  • classic pop and rock
  • pop/rock

Identifiers

ISNI
0000000123642995

Data from MusicBrainz, saved 8 Nov 2026. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, covers from the Cover Art Archive and Apple Music.