(Credits: Far Out / Jeff Lynne)
Mon 2 March 2026 18:30, UK
It’s hard to look at any member of The Traveling Wilburys and pick out a favourite out of the bunch.
Most supergroups tend to fall flat on their face when none of them can agree on what their sound should be, but getting all of the Wilburys together in one place felt like the musical version of The Avengers assembling when ‘Handle With Care’ first came out. But even when every other person in the studio was a legend, Jeff Lynne felt that some of the biggest thrills of the time came when he was working with the right person behind the glass.
Whereas George Harrison was really the mastermind behind the entire Wilburys idea, Lynne was the one who helped make the whole thing a reality. The former Beatle had the star power to rope in just about anyone that he wanted, but Lynne was the one adding a bit of sonic sheen to everything in the mix. He didn’t need the most complicated recording equipment to do it, but when their harmonies lay on top of each other, there’s hardly a single note that sounds out of place.
There might have been a more hands-off approach when they worked on their second record, but that was all deliberate to a degree. Bob Dylan didn’t need to be on a record that ha too many bells and whistles, and since he took the lion’s share of the vocals on most of the second album, it was up to Lynne to play to his strengths whenever he could, whether that was coming in to do his own vocal at the right time or harmonise alongside Tom Petty when singing ‘New Blue Moon’.
But the biggest thrill for Lynne was seeing all these different songwriters work at their craft up close. Harrison had become a friend midway through making Cloud Nine, but seeing a goddamn Beatle nerding out over the fact that he was in the same room with Dylan was more than a little bit funny for someone who had studied every single piece of the Fab Four’s career before he had even put together ELO.
Anyone else would be pinching themselves to be in the presence of a Beatle, but Lynne felt shivers every single time he worked with Roy Orbison. His voice was practically a part of American history ever since the days of ‘Only the Lonely’ and ‘Crying’, but to work with him on songs like ‘Handle With Care’ and ‘Not Alone Any More’ is something that Lynne wouldn’t have traded for the world.
Every second of the band was a joy for him, but Orbison getting a kick out of working with his bandmates is the kind of memory that Lynne treasures the most, saying, “I loved Roy, he was like my favorite guy ever. I got to be his pal. We were pals for about a year back in the Wilburys and making his album. It was just the most wonderful time because he’d always been my idol, and to become pals with him and have him be such a smashing, really lovely guy. And what a voice.”
Sure, there was a lot more ground that Lynne covered when working with someone like Petty on Full Moon Fever, but Orbison’s approach always made everything seem so easy whenever he walked in the door. Any producer is usually looking for that one hook that ties a song together, but it turned out that all Orbison needed to do was open his mouth to pile on as much dramatic flair that the song needed.
So while the Wilburys could have kept going on forever had Orbison not passed away, it’s hard to think of the second record without noticing his absence throughout most of the tunes. The band was only created to have a bunch of friends get together for a jam session, but when you take out that voice, you’re taking out the heart of what made the band so special when they first recorded their classics.