(Credits: Far Out / The Bigger Picture)
Mon 16 February 2026 18:30, UK
When George Harrison left The Beatles, he was free to write music that he’d been receiving pushback on for nearly a decade.
Sure, it’s great to be in a band as good as The Beatles, and people everywhere loved the songwriting partnership of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but the band’s dynamic meant that a lot of George Harrison’s ideas received a great deal of pushback. It was hard for him to get his songs off the ground because the band’s record label didn’t feel as though they fit in with the classic Lennon-McCartney sound that The Beatles championed.
After the split, while he was happy that a lot of his songs could finally get made, he didn’t see himself as much of a frontman, and since he liked to be a part of a collective, he was so excited when The Travelling Wilburys got together, and Tom Petty felt the same way, as he said it was refreshing to be part of a collective.
“That was the greatest luxury, was to not be one guy with a spotlight on you,” Petty explained, “You know, George was the same way, he never wanted to be out front, and we used to talk about it a lot.”
It’s clear that Harrison was one of the driving forces behind the band, as it was originally his idea to put the group together, and after working with Jeff Lynne on the album Cloud Nine, Harrison realised how much he enjoyed collaborating together, even suggesting forming a group, and Lynne originally thought he was joking when the former Beatle pitched potential members.
“‘D’you know what? Me and you should have a group’,” said Lynne, recalling the original conversation that he had with Harrison. “I said, ‘What? That’s good. Yeah, I’m in! Who should we have in it?’ And he said ‘Bob Dylan’.”
Lynne continued, “Of course, I’m half laughing, but then I realise he’s serious. So I said, ‘Can we have Roy Orbison as well?’ He said, ‘Yeah, we’ll have Roy,’ ’cause they used to tour together and we both loved Tom Petty. So we said, let’s have him. And of course, when it’s George Harrison that’s doing it, it was ‘Do you want to join our group?’ and the answer was ‘Yes’.”
Each member contributed a great deal towards the band, as they were able to bring their individual experiences to the group. It worked incredibly well, as the music they made took off quickly and didn’t struggle to resonate with those listening. However, with the group being made up of such big names, it was also intimidating for some members to put their ideas out there. Petty experienced this, especially with Bob Dylan, given he was suddenly working with one of the world’s very best. He admitted that Dylan was one of the more intimidating members of The Traveling Wilburys.
“He’s just as good as you think he would be,” said Petty when talking about how he overcame the pressure of working with such a musical great, concluding, “I was there for a reason, so I had to get his Bobness, you know?”
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