Roger Daltrey on his favourite Traveling Wilburys song: “How many awards you want?”
The term ‘supergroup’ with any band tends to be a kiss of death before things even get started. Even if you’re not looking to draw attention to the big names, there are loaded expectations that come with musical legends uniting for a project that will be near-impossible to match. The Traveling Wilburys may have been the one exception, and even fellow rock legends like Roger Daltrey had to admit that tracks like ‘The End of the Line’ were the high points of the supergroup’s career.
But going through the history of the Wilburys, the whole thing seemed to happen purely by accident. Given that Tom Petty joined because George Harrison’s guitar happened to be at his house and Bob Dylan became involved since the former Beatle was working at Dylan’s studio, it was almost as if the stars were aligning for every one of the members to come together for a record.
Even Harrison’s higher-ups had a good idea for once and decided it would be better for ‘The Quiet Beatle’ to make a whole album with them. If they had this kind of magic on a song like ‘Handle With Care’, why the hell would they waste it on a random B-side instead of getting the full thing?
And despite not being the most ambitious record, Traveling Wilburys Vol.1 is still one of the best dad rock records ever made. While that genre label does get a few nasty looks these days, it’s coming from a place of love when listening to Harrison put his entire soul into ‘Heading for the Light’ or Roy Orbison sending his vocals into the stratosphere on ‘Not Alone Any More’.
Compared to other major releases from any of the members, ‘End of the Line’ is the most breezy they all have sounded. Seeing how this would be the final official album that Orbison released during his lifetime, it’s almost fitting to hear his last vocal parts on a tune all about riding along the journey of life with a bunch of his buddies.
While Daltrey had left The Who behind by the late 1980s, he knew he was listening to brilliance at work on this tune, saying, “I mean, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, I mean how many awards you want? And they were all smiling and laughing, just having a great time. It’s got so much joy to it, there is no ego involved in it.”
And that non-ego is half the reason why Traveling Wilburys worked so well. Listening to the manufactured takes on supergroups, it always feels like every artist is trying to put their own stamp on a song rather than making the song better, but it takes a master’s touch to have Bob Dylan in a group and hardly ever use him on a song.
Because outside of being living legends, every Wilbury knew their strengths and also knew when to get out of the way if someone else had a better idea. And given that Daltrey and Townshend were known for making the most mind-expanding takes on rock and roll, it was probably comforting for the frontman to know that some bands can be a bunch of friends playing together rather than some grand musical statement.
