“It’s embarrassing”: Why Tom Petty didn’t like talking about The Traveling Wilburys
Very few artists realise the dream of being in a band with their heroes. It’s one thing becoming successful in your own right, but bolstering this by entering a milieu with the ones who inspired you to do it is absolute gold dust. While Dave Grohl and John Frusciante are two notable names who have unlocked the door to this dreamland, another one who did so in tremendous fashion was the late Tom Petty.
It was clear from early on that Petty wasn’t going to subscribe to the humdrum lifestyle of his parents, with his dad a travelling salesman and his mother a local tax office clerk. Although he was born in 1950 and was a little too young to have enjoyed the full delights of the rock ‘n’ roll boom that emerged in the middle to late stages of the decade, when he was ten years old, lady luck gifted him a stroke of fortuity that would change the direction of his life.
Petty always had an ear for good music, but he delved headfirst into the rock ‘n’ roll tidal wave in the summer of 1961. Although his native Gainesville prompted intense feelings of suburban ennui, one day, his uncle, who was working on the set of Follow That Dream in nearby Ocala, invited him to visit, which was pivotal. It wasn’t just visiting a Hollywood film set that was exciting; the fact that the day’s biggest star, Elvis Presley, was there caused the young Petty feelings of immense delight that he’d seldom felt under the brutal dictatorship of his father.
He got to meet Presley, and while the meeting was fleeting and something that ‘The King of Rock and Roll’ probably never thought about again, getting a first-hand dose of his magic changed Petty. From that moment on, he would do all he could not to be like his father, whom he resented, and seek to become a rock musician of rare quality like Presley. He would succeed in doing so too, first in Mudcrutch, and then as the leader of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, one of the defining rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s, and a pioneer of both Americana and power pop.
Thanks to his musicianship, stirring lyrics and generally real essence outside of music, which saw him champion artistic control and battle against the machinations of his record label, Petty had all but confirmed himself as a legend after the release of 1980’s Damn the Torpedoes. He would continue building on this status throughout the decade, and his 1989 solo debut, Full Moon Fever, the record that spawned ‘I Won’t Back Down’ and ‘Free Fallin”, crystallised it.
The late 1980s were a life-affirming time for Petty. In October 1987, he became friends with former Beatles guitarist George Harrison and ELO leader Jeff Lynne after meeting them when the Heartbreakers were acting as Bob Dylan’s backing band. This would lead to Lynne co-producing Full Moon Fever, and Harrison featuring on the record.
This period led to the trio’s friendship deepening, and when the former Beatle came to form his dream supergroup, which was hinged mainly on who it was best to hang out with, the most star-studded band of all time emerged. The Traveling Wilburys were comprised of Harrison, Petty, Lynne, Dylan, and rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, Roy Orbison. They might have only released two albums, and sadly, Orbison passed away not long after their debut was released, but they arguably marked the peak for the notion of the supergroup.
It was a transient time, but one that Petty could never quite comprehend. He was younger than the rest of the band, and all had inspired him to varying extents. When speaking to Mojo in 1999, he reflected on being in the group and explained why it was “embarrassing” talking about them.
Likening the members to “older brothers”, he said: “I was telling a friend of mine the other day how odd it is that I never sought out any of those people, any of my heroes. Somehow the ones that really matter to me, I got to become really good friends with. It’s embarrassing. I never mention my friends to people because they think I’m bragging, but it is kind of cool. And I’ve always been upfront with them about how cool I think it is.”
While he would be embarrassed talking about his world-famous friends, for Petty, the band was always more than just music. Harrison was particularly important to him. He was the big brother he never had, providing frank advice when he needed to hear it and solace in other moments when he had no one to turn to.
