A To Z Challenge, Music Blog

That’s Entertainment – Letter T

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Welcome back to “That’s Entertainment!” –
The A To Z Challenge.
I hope you enjoy my musical selections.
Let’s see what’s up today!

© NAR
Artwork by Ernie Federspiel

TRAVELING WILBURYS – The birth of the Traveling Wilburys was a happy accident. Warner Bros. Records’ International Department had asked that George Harrison come up with a B-side for “This Is Love,” a single from his Cloud Nine album. At the time it was customary to couple an A-side with a never-before-heard track, giving the single extra sales value. This was mid-1988 and Cloud Nine was just out. George, along with co-writer Jeff Lynne and their friends Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison, had been hanging out in Dylan’s studio. According to George, as long as his pals were on hand, why not use them to knock off this flip side? Also on board was world-renowned session drummer, Jim Keltner. A couple of days later George played the new B-side in the recording studio and the reaction was immediate: the song, “Handle With Care”, was a sure hit and could not be wasted on some B-side …. and George knew it. He had been hungering for another band experience and now the opportunity fell into his lap. With the idea of a full, collaborative album clearly in his mind, George took over. The five frontmen …. Harrison, Lynne, Petty, Dylan, and Orbison …. decided not to use their own names when choosing a name for the group; instead, they went with ‘wilburys’ – a term Harrison and Lynne used when referring to studio equipment. Lynne suggested Traveling Wilburys and everyone agreed. “Handle With Care” was the Wilburys’ most successful single, peaking at #2 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and #21 on the UK Singles chart. After Roy Orbison died in December 1988, the Wilburys continued as a quartet; they released a second album, Traveling Wilburys, Vol. 3, in 1990 which won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group. Due to the guys’ busy solo careers, the group began taking a different direction. The remaining four friends continued to perform on/contribute to each other’s albums until George Harrison’s death in 2001. Today there are only two of the original five still with us – Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne –  but the Traveling Wilburys will always be the biggest and best little supergroup of all time.

This is “Handle With Care” by the Traveling Wilburys


Please join me again tomorrow for more of “That’s Entertainment” and the A To Z Challenge!

I’m Nancy and I’ll see you on the flip side. 😎

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26 thoughts on “That’s Entertainment – Letter T”

    1. Welcome to the world of the Traveling Wilburys, Brenda! With members such as George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison, this group was destined for superstardom. Though together for only a short time, they left their mark in rock history. I’m glad to know you enjoyed todays post!

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