Credit: Far Out / The Traveling Wilburys
Sun 11 October 2026 21:00, UK
The Traveling Wilburys weren’t the kind of band that was looking to become some all-exclusive club for ageing rock stars.
George Harrison only had the idea from working with Jeff Lynne, and the idea of all of them getting together in the first place almost happened on the spur of the moment since every member was in town to work on some of their first jam sessions. The whole thing felt like a chance to just have a bit of fun, but there were bound to be a few people who seemed to be left out of the party whenever they got together to break out the acoustic guitars on every tune.
Then again, Harrison had already had the idea of getting a band with all his friends in it even before he quit The Beatles. The Fab Four were clearly on their last legs when going through the final piece of their career, but when you look at the footage from Get Back, Harrison was ready to ask a bunch more people to jam with them aside from Billy Preston, even floating the idea of asking his mates if Bob Dylan would say yes if they asked him to join them for a few sessions.
He may have waited a few decades to get his wish, but Harrison didn’t want to handpick everyone because of how good they were at playing. His vision for the band was a bunch of friends that could get together and have some fun in the same way that a bunch of middle-aged dads schedule fishing trips together, and while they all did a bunch of fishing for song ideas during their few days together, some people managed to miss them by mere inches.
Roger McGuinn was the first person who outwardly said no, but he probably didn’t realise what he was getting himself into. All he knew was he needed to complete his own solo album, and Dave Stewart was in a similar position when he wanted to join but couldn’t be at the party because he was on tour. He was gracious enough to have them use his house to write songs in, but there are others who almost seemed put off standing next to the biggest stars in the world.
Whereas Harrison was the one who shot down any chance of them using Elvis Presley’s voice on any of their tracks after Roy Orbison passed away, there were still people like Mike Campbell who were put on the side. He had the chops to be a Wilbury, but he knew that he didn’t want to be standing next to a Beatle as if he were some kind of equal. They had their own sense of celebrity about them, but Elton John seemed to be the one person completely left out of the equation.
Which is a shame, considering he was the one who wanted to put the whole thing together when they all started, saying, “I think the older we get, the nicer we become. I think [my friends’] egos have all been satisfied or knocked down to such an extent that they value friendship. Elton is apparently forming a band for over 40 year olds, which I’m told I’m going to be in.” But John wasn’t the kind to be subtle when working on any number of his records, either.
Further reading: From The Vault
He was always going to be on his best behaviour standing next to someone that loomed as large as Roy Orbison, but The Wilburys were also a particular thing where every single person held up one little piece of the puzzle, and if they added someone else into the mix, it would have disrupted the whole vibe of the sessions, especially if John was brought in after Orbison passed away after the first record.
So while they may have forgotten all about John’s plan, maybe Harrison simply thought that the piano legend had a good idea and decided to poach it for his own group. Maybe there was a way that John could have sprinkled in some gorgeous piano to a song like ‘End of the Line’, but it’s not like he’s going to be losing sleep amid his own pile of platinum records he made on his own.
