(Credits: Far Out / The Traveling Wilburys)
Fri 27 March 2026 20:15, UK
The entire story of the Traveling Wilburys would have never worked if it had become like a job.
Every one of them was the best of friends as soon as they walked into the studio, and even if it came from needing one more George Harrison, getting one of the greatest supergroups of all time out of the deal is still one of the happiest accidents in rock and roll history. But even when they were honing their craft, there were bound to be a few hiccups when they were trying to get everyone in one place.
But when they first worked on ‘Handle With Care’, it was like the stars aligned in just the right way to get them all together. Harrison and Jeff Lynne already had the idea of getting a band together, and after getting Roy Orbison to sing on the song, using Bob Dylan’s studio, and getting Tom Petty to come by the session, they had everyone in one place for what would have surely been the most star-studded B-side in history.
So if this song was too good to become a simple B-side, Harrison figured that it was too good to waste the band that he had put together. They were all working perfectly in sync with one another, and even though Harrison and Lynne were already joined at the hip after working on Cloud Nine, getting the chance to chat with Orbison about the good old days while he used that golden voice was as close to living in a musical paradise as they could have imagined.
If they wanted to make a bunch more tunes, though, they needed to move fast and find the right studio. They didn’t want to risk going to a big-time recording studio and let the word get out that they were there, so getting Dave Stewart’s house was the closest thing they could have asked for when it came to total privacy. But even if they were all in the same area, you have to remember the kind of schedule Bob Dylan was on at this time.
He had only just begun the concept of the Neverending Tour, and while he was more than happy to play a few ditties with his buddies, he didn’t exactly have that much time to waste. With only nine songs to flesh out, Dylan had only a little over a week to lay everything down, but despite everyone saying not to rush great art, Dylan didn’t need much time to work with Petty on the story in a song like ‘Tweeter and the Monkey Man’.
But even with the freewheeling spirit of those sessions, Petty remembered the band cutting it a little bit close considering what Dylan was up against, saying, “Bob was on the road. We really had to plan to get sections of time where Bob wasn’t busy because he likes to tour a lot. We just felt like we could have a band that did whatever we wanted to, because the Wilburys didn’t go on the road.”
And as much as Bob’s scowl in the video for ‘Handle With Care’ makes it seem like he wasn’t having a great time, he did warm up to the idea. The band’s second record may not have had Orbison’s voice over top of those songs, but Dylan finally seemed to be in his element when working on the record, always around to throw out the right one-liner for a song and to pass the microphone off to Harrison when working on ‘Inside Out’ or ‘Wilbury Twist’.
Dylan doesn’t usually seem like the kind of person who plays well with others whenever he makes a record, but when looking at how he worked with the Wilburys, every single member seemed happy to be playing with friends that they had idolised from afar for years. Harrison was already in awe of Dylan before the sessions even started, but even if they were fans of each other, all of the egos came down whenever it came time to make a song.
ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE 
The Far Out Bob Dylan Newsletter
All the latest stories about Bob Dylan from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.