October 30, 2025 • 20 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, The Traveling Wilburys formed almost by accident. When George Harrison needed a B-side, he called Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne, and together they recorded “Handle With Care.” The chemistry was instant, and within months, they became a band the world couldn’t ignore. Their blend of humor, heart, and melody carried through every track, especially “End of the Line.” Our own Greg Hengler shares how these musicians balanced fame with friendship and created music that still feels effortless.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
Our next story is about a band that was dubbed
the Billion Dollar Quintet. Here's Greg Hengler with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The Traveling Willberry's had a short history but a long past.
The creation of the rock group was a fortunate accident.
Nicknamed the Billion Dollar Quintet, The five musical legends, three
of whom were in their forties, had gathered to assist
a former Beatle in writing and recording what was intended
as a throwaway B side track. Tom Petty, at age
(00:46):
thirty eight, whose career was at its peak, was by
far the youngest member of the group. She's a good.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Loves zimb Loves geez Sis in America too.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Roy Orbison at fifty two, who was called the greatest
singer in the world by Elvis, was the oldest. Here's
Roy singing you Got It, the hit he co wrote
with future fellow Wilberry's Jeff Lynn and Tom Petty.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Anything New, you got It, Anything you got It, Anything.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
You got It.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
And then there was former Beatle George Harrison.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
He comes a song, Doo doo, he comes a nice
it It's all right.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
In nineteen sixty three, a young Bob Dylan would ask
future bandmate Roy Orbison to record the song he wrote,
Don't Think Twice It's all Right. Orbison would later regret
his decision to reject this Dylan masterpiece.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
I'm thinking and am wondering walking down the road. I
once loved a woman a child. I am told I
give him my heart, but she wanted my soul. But
don't think twice It's all right.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Finally, there's probably the least known member of the Traveling Wilbury's,
but no less talented. Singer, songwriter and record super producer
Jeff Lynn. Lynn co founded the Electric Light Orchestra or ELLO,
a rock band inspired by the Beatles complex orchestral sound
of the late sixties, between nineteen seventy two. In nineteen
(02:50):
eighty six, Jeff Lynn's ELO put more singles in the
top forty charts than any other band in the world.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
No No, No, No.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
No, Awn. George Harrison's career was on fire in the
late nineteen eighties. His comeback album Cloud nine was certified
platinum in the US thanks to the production work of
(03:26):
Jeff Lynny. I Got My Mads. Then, in a pivotal
moment in rock, history. Warner Brothers told Harrison he needed
to record a B side track for his single This
Is Love. On the evening before the recording session, Harrison
dined at a French restaurant in Los Angeles with Jeff Lynn,
(03:49):
who had brought along Roy Orbison. With the three legends
sitting together at one table, Harrison asked Orbison and Lynn
to help him record the B side they had For
the sake of convenience, Lynn suggested they record the track
at Bob Dylon's garage studio. Harrison telephoned Dylan, who agreed
(04:09):
to the idea. Needing a guitar that he had left
with Tom Petty, Harrison called and was pleasantly surprised that
Petty also wanted to attend.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
Please.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
The recording session took place on April fifth, nineteen eighty eight.
After dining on some barbecue chicken in Dylan's backyard garden,
the five musicians worked out the song's lyrics. Thankfully for us,
George Harrison understood that history was being made, and so
he took out his personal video recorder and began shooting.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
Does it say recording here?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
George?
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Was it supposed to record?
Speaker 7 (04:47):
And if you find it Oh yeah, there it goes.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Here's George Harrison.
Speaker 8 (04:53):
Good thing about the Wilbers for me is if we'd
have tried to plan that, or if anybody had tried to,
you know, say let's form this band and get these
people in it, it would never happen. It's impossible. My
guitar was at Tom Petty's house, so Tom Jeff picked
me up. We went over to Bob's. When I got
the first line, just said being beat up at around.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Being beat up and battered around.
Speaker 8 (05:18):
And then wow, they just kept coming with all these lines,
and there's Bob was saying, Wow, what's it called? What's
it about? When I finally saw behind it doll this
big box with a sticker on the scene, handed with
Curry said, handled with Carr, he said, oh yeah good,
and me.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
With I'm so.
Speaker 9 (05:40):
Has to have so love? Why you saw me? Everybody
is gas.
Speaker 8 (05:54):
I liked the song and the way it had turned
out with all these people on it so much so
I just carried it around in my pocket for ages,
thinking well, what can I do with this thing? And
the only thing to do I could think I was
do another nine make an album.
Speaker 10 (06:07):
Here's Tom Petty and I said Yeah, that sounds like
a real good idea because it had really been such
magic doing the first track.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Patty recalled how the group's lineup was finalized. We all
jumped in a car to go see Roy play in Anaheim.
All four of us ran into Roy's dressing room and said,
we want you to be in our band. Roy, he
said that would be great. Harrison made the final proposal
official by dropping to his knees and formally asking Orbison
(06:38):
to join the band. The five men soon celebrated with
a band meeting at Denny's on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
Dylan proposed they called the band Roy and the Boys,
but they settled on the quirky name The Traveling Willberry's.
All five men are rhythm guitarists, but there are no
(06:59):
excessive soul, and the boys did a fantastic job at
sharing the spotlight. Harrison did emerge as the chief Wilbury,
and when the band returned to record the rest of
their album, his video recorder was on again to capture
the memories, starting with Tom Petty's arrival on day one.
Speaker 7 (07:20):
All in a day's work for a will room, and
we had like nine to ten days that we knew
we could get Bob before and everybody else was relatively free,
so we just.
Speaker 8 (07:31):
Said, well, let's do it. We'll just write us tu
in a day and do it that way. It was
very exciting.
Speaker 10 (07:37):
We were in Dave Stewart's house and it was a
nice environment because you could kind of sit outside. It
was warm and the doors were always open.
Speaker 8 (07:46):
So we set up in his kitchen. It doesn't sound
proof to it or anything, and we just put like
five chairs around the kitchen and then put the microphones
up and that's it to all in guitar parts, you know,
all them acoustic guitar So just in this kitchen.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Here's Roy Orbison from Music.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
That's what it was all about. There wasn't a lot
of deciding what to do, not a lot of time
spent planning out anything. So I just wrote the best
songs that we could write and sing them as best
we could.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
There on a car. No, she was long in talk,
all short and fat. She was dressed to kill. That's
good to give me its will.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Here's Jeff Lynn just sitting around in a circle like
five us just strumming acoustic guitars and coming up with
a song in like a couple of hours that was
almost ready to record.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
It's pretty sort of unbelievable stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And you've been listening to the story of what has
been called the billion Dollar Quintet. We're talking about the
Traveling Willberry's, Tom Petty being the youngest member, Roy Orbison
the oldest, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Jeff Lynn, the
founder of E l O. The other members, and I
(09:01):
can just picture the staff at that Denny's looking at
this ensemble of talent hashing out what they would call
this band, Roy and the Boys, by the way, was
Dylan suggests you telling you about the stature of Roy
Orbison with the rest of this crew. When we come back,
(09:22):
more of this remarkable story, the story of the Traveling Willberry's.
Here on our American stories, and we continue with our
American stories and the remarkable story of the Traveling Willberry's.
(09:45):
Let's pick up where we last left off. Here again
is Tom Petty, followed by our own Greg Hengley.
Speaker 10 (09:53):
Sometimes we'd same as Sam Soner, you know, just to
see who sounded good or right. This Keith fit somebody,
and that was a lot the final and George would
kind of audition us, which could be really intimidating, you know,
because like you know, Roy Orbitson had sing the song,
and then they send you out to sing it. You know,
it's like, well, damn, that's really intimidating.
Speaker 9 (10:14):
Last night.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Tweeter and the Monkey Man was recorded in only two
takes and was notable for its many references to Bruce
Bringsteen's songs. Here's Harrison discussing that Dylan recording, as we
also hear Dylan getting feedback.
Speaker 8 (10:28):
Terse and the Monkey Man was like, really, Tom Petty
and Bob, well, Jeff and I were there too, but
we just sit around in the kitchen and he for
some reason was talking about all this stuff which didn't
make much sense to me. You know, it was Americana
kind of stuff. And we got a tape cassette and
put it on and then transcribed everything they were saying.
Speaker 7 (10:56):
Twea tuk.
Speaker 9 (11:03):
To treat the stand in factory.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
How was that?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (11:13):
Huh good?
Speaker 10 (11:14):
Yeah, I think it was good.
Speaker 9 (11:15):
Okay, standing that was it?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That was it?
Speaker 9 (11:35):
Yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
George Harrison and Roy Orbison first met in May nineteen
sixty three, when the Beatles were scheduled as the opening
act for Orbison. What Orbison did not know at the
time was that The Fab Four's second single, Please Please Me,
had been written by John Lennon in an attempt to
emulate Orbison. Ringo Starr would later admit Roy Orbison was
(12:09):
the only act that the Beatles didn't want to follow.
Here's Tom Petty and Jeff Lynn discussing Roy Orbison as
Roy records the Traveling Willberry's tune not Alone Anymore.
Speaker 10 (12:22):
If you're just sitting on the sofa working on a
song and Roy's singing, even when he's sang soft, it's
such a tone, such a sound, you know, such a gift.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Really.
Speaker 10 (12:32):
We used to always tell him her, oh, you must
be the best singer in the world, and he'd say, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Jeff Lynn's production skills always makes a great track even better.
Speaker 6 (13:07):
Everybody paid its an You're no, no, you'll know an
(13:30):
impol anymore brilliant.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
That was great.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
That's myself there.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
The band hated the notion of the supergroup, which were
popular in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I never meant to be so that.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
They wanted to soften the notion that they fit into
this category. After all, most so called supergroups don't exactly
live up to the term. Michael Palin, one of the
members of the comedy group Monty Python, was hired by
Harrison to write the band's fictitional biography. Palin chronicled the
(14:25):
short story of five half brothers who had one father
but five different mothers. Consequently, out of sheer self amusement,
all five members of the group decided to use aliases.
Their real names did not appear anywhere on the album
or cover. Here's Harrison and Lynn discussing the bittersweet track Congratulations,
(14:48):
the only Wilbury song Dylan has performed in concert.
Speaker 7 (14:54):
One of the most.
Speaker 8 (14:54):
Amazing things ever about the Little Brides was this holes
apart thing of Roy and Bob Dunn.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
That's why I thought it was wonderful.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
The best singer and the best lyricist and both in
the same good.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
End of the Line became the album's second single. Orbison
stated at the time, I've been rediscovered by young kids
who had never heard of me before the Wilbury's Pretty
Woman walking down the Street. But just four days before
they shot the music video for End of the Line.
In just three weeks after the album's release, Roy Orbison
(15:30):
suffered a fatal heart attack. Although he had complained of
chest pains over the previous month, mentioning the discomfort to
his close friend Johnny Cash, Orbison did not take the
symptoms seriously. Here's Tom Petty.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You all.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Back.
Speaker 10 (15:49):
Roy went out on top, and I'm sure he knew that.
The last conversation I had with him was a couple
of days before he died on the phone, and he
was just so thrilled that the Wilburys had gone platinum
and the names just ended great, It's great. We all
felt that Roy was a real special part of the
group and it was just our ace in the hall
(16:09):
to have that voice come in. And he was so nice,
you know, and it was so painful.
Speaker 9 (16:18):
When he died.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
The video for End of the Line was shot inside
a vintage passenger car on a moving train.
Speaker 10 (16:30):
Maybe somewhere down the road away You'll think of me
and wonder where I am these days.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
During Orbison's vocal solos, the camera focused on a framed
portrait of the singer, which was perched near a weather
rocking chair that hella resting upright guitar. Even Goose Coach
should well. It's Orbison became the first musician since Elvis
(17:04):
in nineteen seventy seven to land two posthumous albums in
the top five, and the traveling Willbury's album Handle with
Care would also win accolades such as a Grammy and
were ranked number two by Rolling Stone in the category
of Best New American Band, right behind Guns N' Roses. Unfortunately,
(17:24):
the band never lived up to the traveling aspect of
their name. They never toured, not one live appearance. Here's
Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
The whole experience was just some of the best days
of my life. Really, she rode along lit. I think
it probably was for us all.
Speaker 9 (17:45):
I'm sure he's.
Speaker 10 (17:48):
The thing I guess would be hardest for people to
understand is what good friends we were. It really had
very little to do with combining a bunch of famous people.
It was a bunch of friends that just happened to
be really good at making music better.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
And better around, be singer yourself, you the best sing problem.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
And me with him.
Speaker 10 (18:19):
None of this would have happened without him. It was
George's band. It was always George's band, and it was
a dream he'd had for a long time.
Speaker 8 (18:27):
From my point of view, I just tried to preserve
our relationship. I worked so hard to make sure that
you know all the guys who were in that band
and consequently on record and film, friendship wasn't abused. Just
to preserve our friendship. That was the underlying contribution. I
(18:50):
think what I was trying to do.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
What remains of the Traveling Wilbury's is a mystique of
unfulfilled possibilities and what could have been, much like a
rock band that does not come out for an encore,
even as the fans remained standing on their feet and
cheering at the top of their lungs.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler and my goodness, George Harrison
first meets Roy Orbison while opening for him in nineteen
sixty three. As a member of the Beatles, Orbison was
the only act we did not want to follow. Ringo
Starr would say about Orbison, my goodness, what you had
(19:33):
in the end with this group was the best singer
and the best lyricist. And in the end a heart
attack would take Roy Orbison's life way too early at
the age of only fifty two. The Willbury's we learn well,
they would never travel. The experience, Tom Petty said was
the best of his life. We were such good friends,
(19:55):
he said, And then we hear about George. It was
George's band, by the way, Petty added. And what George
kept at top of mind at all times was quote
preserving our friendships. The story of the traveling Willberrys a
classic American music story. Here on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories.
Our next story is about a band that was dubbed
the Billion Dollar Quintet. Here's Greg Hengler with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
The Traveling Willberry's had a short history but a long past.
The creation of the rock group was a fortunate accident.
Nicknamed the Billion Dollar Quintet, The five musical legends, three
of whom were in their forties, had gathered to assist
a former Beatle in writing and recording what was intended
as a throwaway B side track. Tom Petty, at age
(00:46):
thirty eight, whose career was at its peak, was by
far the youngest member of the group. She's a good.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Loves zimb Loves geez Sis in America too.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Roy Orbison at fifty two, who was called the greatest
singer in the world by Elvis, was the oldest. Here's
Roy singing you Got It, the hit he co wrote
with future fellow Wilberry's Jeff Lynn and Tom Petty.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Anything New, you got It, Anything you got It, Anything.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
You got It.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
And then there was former Beatle George Harrison.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
He comes a song, Doo doo, he comes a nice
it It's all right.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
In nineteen sixty three, a young Bob Dylan would ask
future bandmate Roy Orbison to record the song he wrote,
Don't Think Twice It's all Right. Orbison would later regret
his decision to reject this Dylan masterpiece.
Speaker 5 (02:08):
I'm thinking and am wondering walking down the road. I
once loved a woman a child. I am told I
give him my heart, but she wanted my soul. But
don't think twice It's all right.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Finally, there's probably the least known member of the Traveling Wilbury's,
but no less talented. Singer, songwriter and record super producer
Jeff Lynn. Lynn co founded the Electric Light Orchestra or ELLO,
a rock band inspired by the Beatles complex orchestral sound
of the late sixties, between nineteen seventy two. In nineteen
(02:50):
eighty six, Jeff Lynn's ELO put more singles in the
top forty charts than any other band in the world.
Speaker 6 (03:02):
No No, No, No.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
No, Awn. George Harrison's career was on fire in the
late nineteen eighties. His comeback album Cloud nine was certified
platinum in the US thanks to the production work of
(03:26):
Jeff Lynny. I Got My Mads. Then, in a pivotal
moment in rock, history. Warner Brothers told Harrison he needed
to record a B side track for his single This
Is Love. On the evening before the recording session, Harrison
dined at a French restaurant in Los Angeles with Jeff Lynn,
(03:49):
who had brought along Roy Orbison. With the three legends
sitting together at one table, Harrison asked Orbison and Lynn
to help him record the B side they had For
the sake of convenience, Lynn suggested they record the track
at Bob Dylon's garage studio. Harrison telephoned Dylan, who agreed
(04:09):
to the idea. Needing a guitar that he had left
with Tom Petty, Harrison called and was pleasantly surprised that
Petty also wanted to attend.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
Please.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
The recording session took place on April fifth, nineteen eighty eight.
After dining on some barbecue chicken in Dylan's backyard garden,
the five musicians worked out the song's lyrics. Thankfully for us,
George Harrison understood that history was being made, and so
he took out his personal video recorder and began shooting.
Speaker 6 (04:45):
Does it say recording here?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
George?
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Was it supposed to record?
Speaker 7 (04:47):
And if you find it Oh yeah, there it goes.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Here's George Harrison.
Speaker 8 (04:53):
Good thing about the Wilbers for me is if we'd
have tried to plan that, or if anybody had tried to,
you know, say let's form this band and get these
people in it, it would never happen. It's impossible. My
guitar was at Tom Petty's house, so Tom Jeff picked
me up. We went over to Bob's. When I got
the first line, just said being beat up at around.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Being beat up and battered around.
Speaker 8 (05:18):
And then wow, they just kept coming with all these lines,
and there's Bob was saying, Wow, what's it called? What's
it about? When I finally saw behind it doll this
big box with a sticker on the scene, handed with
Curry said, handled with Carr, he said, oh yeah good,
and me.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
With I'm so.
Speaker 9 (05:40):
Has to have so love? Why you saw me? Everybody
is gas.
Speaker 8 (05:54):
I liked the song and the way it had turned
out with all these people on it so much so
I just carried it around in my pocket for ages,
thinking well, what can I do with this thing? And
the only thing to do I could think I was
do another nine make an album.
Speaker 10 (06:07):
Here's Tom Petty and I said Yeah, that sounds like
a real good idea because it had really been such
magic doing the first track.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Patty recalled how the group's lineup was finalized. We all
jumped in a car to go see Roy play in Anaheim.
All four of us ran into Roy's dressing room and said,
we want you to be in our band. Roy, he
said that would be great. Harrison made the final proposal
official by dropping to his knees and formally asking Orbison
(06:38):
to join the band. The five men soon celebrated with
a band meeting at Denny's on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
Dylan proposed they called the band Roy and the Boys,
but they settled on the quirky name The Traveling Willberry's.
All five men are rhythm guitarists, but there are no
(06:59):
excessive soul, and the boys did a fantastic job at
sharing the spotlight. Harrison did emerge as the chief Wilbury,
and when the band returned to record the rest of
their album, his video recorder was on again to capture
the memories, starting with Tom Petty's arrival on day one.
Speaker 7 (07:20):
All in a day's work for a will room, and
we had like nine to ten days that we knew
we could get Bob before and everybody else was relatively free,
so we just.
Speaker 8 (07:31):
Said, well, let's do it. We'll just write us tu
in a day and do it that way. It was
very exciting.
Speaker 10 (07:37):
We were in Dave Stewart's house and it was a
nice environment because you could kind of sit outside. It
was warm and the doors were always open.
Speaker 8 (07:46):
So we set up in his kitchen. It doesn't sound
proof to it or anything, and we just put like
five chairs around the kitchen and then put the microphones
up and that's it to all in guitar parts, you know,
all them acoustic guitar So just in this kitchen.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Here's Roy Orbison from Music.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
That's what it was all about. There wasn't a lot
of deciding what to do, not a lot of time
spent planning out anything. So I just wrote the best
songs that we could write and sing them as best
we could.
Speaker 9 (08:14):
There on a car. No, she was long in talk,
all short and fat. She was dressed to kill. That's
good to give me its will.
Speaker 1 (08:30):
Here's Jeff Lynn just sitting around in a circle like
five us just strumming acoustic guitars and coming up with
a song in like a couple of hours that was
almost ready to record.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
It's pretty sort of unbelievable stuff.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
And you've been listening to the story of what has
been called the billion Dollar Quintet. We're talking about the
Traveling Willberry's, Tom Petty being the youngest member, Roy Orbison
the oldest, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Jeff Lynn, the
founder of E l O. The other members, and I
(09:01):
can just picture the staff at that Denny's looking at
this ensemble of talent hashing out what they would call
this band, Roy and the Boys, by the way, was
Dylan suggests you telling you about the stature of Roy
Orbison with the rest of this crew. When we come back,
(09:22):
more of this remarkable story, the story of the Traveling Willberry's.
Here on our American stories, and we continue with our
American stories and the remarkable story of the Traveling Willberry's.
(09:45):
Let's pick up where we last left off. Here again
is Tom Petty, followed by our own Greg Hengley.
Speaker 10 (09:53):
Sometimes we'd same as Sam Soner, you know, just to
see who sounded good or right. This Keith fit somebody,
and that was a lot the final and George would
kind of audition us, which could be really intimidating, you know,
because like you know, Roy Orbitson had sing the song,
and then they send you out to sing it. You know,
it's like, well, damn, that's really intimidating.
Speaker 9 (10:14):
Last night.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Tweeter and the Monkey Man was recorded in only two
takes and was notable for its many references to Bruce
Bringsteen's songs. Here's Harrison discussing that Dylan recording, as we
also hear Dylan getting feedback.
Speaker 8 (10:28):
Terse and the Monkey Man was like, really, Tom Petty
and Bob, well, Jeff and I were there too, but
we just sit around in the kitchen and he for
some reason was talking about all this stuff which didn't
make much sense to me. You know, it was Americana
kind of stuff. And we got a tape cassette and
put it on and then transcribed everything they were saying.
Speaker 7 (10:56):
Twea tuk.
Speaker 9 (11:03):
To treat the stand in factory.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
How was that?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (11:13):
Huh good?
Speaker 10 (11:14):
Yeah, I think it was good.
Speaker 9 (11:15):
Okay, standing that was it?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
That was it?
Speaker 9 (11:35):
Yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
George Harrison and Roy Orbison first met in May nineteen
sixty three, when the Beatles were scheduled as the opening
act for Orbison. What Orbison did not know at the
time was that The Fab Four's second single, Please Please Me,
had been written by John Lennon in an attempt to
emulate Orbison. Ringo Starr would later admit Roy Orbison was
(12:09):
the only act that the Beatles didn't want to follow.
Here's Tom Petty and Jeff Lynn discussing Roy Orbison as
Roy records the Traveling Willberry's tune not Alone Anymore.
Speaker 10 (12:22):
If you're just sitting on the sofa working on a
song and Roy's singing, even when he's sang soft, it's
such a tone, such a sound, you know, such a gift.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Really.
Speaker 10 (12:32):
We used to always tell him her, oh, you must
be the best singer in the world, and he'd say, yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Jeff Lynn's production skills always makes a great track even better.
Speaker 6 (13:07):
Everybody paid its an You're no, no, you'll know an
(13:30):
impol anymore brilliant.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
That was great.
Speaker 5 (13:48):
That's myself there.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
The band hated the notion of the supergroup, which were
popular in the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I never meant to be so that.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
They wanted to soften the notion that they fit into
this category. After all, most so called supergroups don't exactly
live up to the term. Michael Palin, one of the
members of the comedy group Monty Python, was hired by
Harrison to write the band's fictitional biography. Palin chronicled the
(14:25):
short story of five half brothers who had one father
but five different mothers. Consequently, out of sheer self amusement,
all five members of the group decided to use aliases.
Their real names did not appear anywhere on the album
or cover. Here's Harrison and Lynn discussing the bittersweet track Congratulations,
(14:48):
the only Wilbury song Dylan has performed in concert.
Speaker 7 (14:54):
One of the most.
Speaker 8 (14:54):
Amazing things ever about the Little Brides was this holes
apart thing of Roy and Bob Dunn.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
That's why I thought it was wonderful.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
The best singer and the best lyricist and both in
the same good.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
End of the Line became the album's second single. Orbison
stated at the time, I've been rediscovered by young kids
who had never heard of me before the Wilbury's Pretty
Woman walking down the Street. But just four days before
they shot the music video for End of the Line.
In just three weeks after the album's release, Roy Orbison
(15:30):
suffered a fatal heart attack. Although he had complained of
chest pains over the previous month, mentioning the discomfort to
his close friend Johnny Cash, Orbison did not take the
symptoms seriously. Here's Tom Petty.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You all.
Speaker 8 (15:48):
Back.
Speaker 10 (15:49):
Roy went out on top, and I'm sure he knew that.
The last conversation I had with him was a couple
of days before he died on the phone, and he
was just so thrilled that the Wilburys had gone platinum
and the names just ended great, It's great. We all
felt that Roy was a real special part of the
group and it was just our ace in the hall
(16:09):
to have that voice come in. And he was so nice,
you know, and it was so painful.
Speaker 9 (16:18):
When he died.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
The video for End of the Line was shot inside
a vintage passenger car on a moving train.
Speaker 10 (16:30):
Maybe somewhere down the road away You'll think of me
and wonder where I am these days.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
During Orbison's vocal solos, the camera focused on a framed
portrait of the singer, which was perched near a weather
rocking chair that hella resting upright guitar. Even Goose Coach
should well. It's Orbison became the first musician since Elvis
(17:04):
in nineteen seventy seven to land two posthumous albums in
the top five, and the traveling Willbury's album Handle with
Care would also win accolades such as a Grammy and
were ranked number two by Rolling Stone in the category
of Best New American Band, right behind Guns N' Roses. Unfortunately,
(17:24):
the band never lived up to the traveling aspect of
their name. They never toured, not one live appearance. Here's
Tom Petty, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison.
Speaker 10 (17:36):
The whole experience was just some of the best days
of my life. Really, she rode along lit. I think
it probably was for us all.
Speaker 9 (17:45):
I'm sure he's.
Speaker 10 (17:48):
The thing I guess would be hardest for people to
understand is what good friends we were. It really had
very little to do with combining a bunch of famous people.
It was a bunch of friends that just happened to
be really good at making music better.
Speaker 8 (18:05):
And better around, be singer yourself, you the best sing problem.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
And me with him.
Speaker 10 (18:19):
None of this would have happened without him. It was
George's band. It was always George's band, and it was
a dream he'd had for a long time.
Speaker 8 (18:27):
From my point of view, I just tried to preserve
our relationship. I worked so hard to make sure that
you know all the guys who were in that band
and consequently on record and film, friendship wasn't abused. Just
to preserve our friendship. That was the underlying contribution. I
(18:50):
think what I was trying to do.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
What remains of the Traveling Wilbury's is a mystique of
unfulfilled possibilities and what could have been, much like a
rock band that does not come out for an encore,
even as the fans remained standing on their feet and
cheering at the top of their lungs.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler and my goodness, George Harrison
first meets Roy Orbison while opening for him in nineteen
sixty three. As a member of the Beatles, Orbison was
the only act we did not want to follow. Ringo
Starr would say about Orbison, my goodness, what you had
(19:33):
in the end with this group was the best singer
and the best lyricist. And in the end a heart
attack would take Roy Orbison's life way too early at
the age of only fifty two. The Willbury's we learn well,
they would never travel. The experience, Tom Petty said was
the best of his life. We were such good friends,
(19:55):
he said, And then we hear about George. It was
George's band, by the way, Petty added. And what George
kept at top of mind at all times was quote
preserving our friendships. The story of the traveling Willberrys a
classic American music story. Here on our American stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
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