The Traveling Wilburys member that Tom Petty considered a “genius”
Looking back, it’s almost mad to think The Traveling Wilburys were ever a real band. But for a brief, glorious moment, the stars aligned – and Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Tom Petty found themselves sharing the same stage (and studio).
The use of ‘super’ often does more heavy-lifting than Eddie Hall when it comes to supergroups, which typically fall flat on the starpower associated with the word. However, that criticism can’t be extended to the Traveling Wilburys, who collectively have 31 Grammy Awards between them, and all members have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a match made in heaven.
These so-called dream collaborations often sound better in our heads than they do in the studio – but the Traveling Wilburys had far too much talent between them to ever flop. For Petty, the youngest of the lot, getting to make music alongside Dylan and Harrison – both of whom he’d grown up idolising – was something that stuck with him right up until his final breath.
They were active for only three years, but it was a period that permanently changed Petty as an artist. Importantly, it brought him close to Lynne, who helped improve him as a songwriter by teaching him pivotal lessons about the music-making process and spawned a beautiful friendship.
Prior to making The Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, Petty and Lynne were already collaborators. They first worked together on Petty’s 1989 solo album Full Moon Fever, which turned out to be an absolute belter.
The album was the first time that he had stepped away from The Heartbreakers and operating as a solo musician was still a foreign territory to him. Therefore, he needed to call upon the assistance of Lynne, who could help him and work as a sounding board while he bounced around ideas.
Full Moon Fever was a hit, featuring the beloved singles ‘Free Fallin” and ‘I Won’t Back Down’, which helped Petty turn over a new leaf in his career. Although he eventually returned to the fold with The Heartbreakers, he did so with the knowledge that had been passed on from Lynne. Although he’d enjoyed working with him greatly within the Traveling Wilburys, the one-to-one experience on Full Moon Fever made him put Lynne on an even mightier pedestal.
During an interview with GQ in 2005, he shared: “But Jeff was such a genius in the studio. Just so good. He made things that had been really difficult seem so easy all of a sudden. Like getting a good take. It just all came so easy with him. He taught me a lot. A lot about singing, a lot about harmony, a lot about arranging. Everything.”
Petty also recalled how Lynne guided him as a vocalist, adding, “He’d say, ‘Here’s where you sound best. Here’s what you do really good. And here’s what you don’t do really good.’ It’s hard to put your finger on it and put it into words. But he had just such a great perspective.”
As Petty put so much of himself into everything that he did, both literally and emotionally, creating records was rarely an easy process. Yet, when he had Lynne for support, it was anything but a chore. Perty explained, “He could sit back and see everything; hear the record, and guide you through it so effortlessly. Where things that had been really hard – sometimes making those records would really bring us to our knees emotionally, it could be really hard – with Full Moon Fever, everything was a breeze.”
Due to their friendship and connection in the studio, making Full Moon Fever was a joy-filled experience for Petty, who trusted Lynne innately. On their dynamics, he divulged: “Whoever had something. We were great friends. We had a lot of laughs together. We would just start playing, and then one of us would say, ‘Oh, that’s nice. That’s a nice bit.’ And we’d say, ‘OK, let’s work on this bit.’ And I did all of the words. He didn’t want to get involved in the words. He said, ‘You’re gonna sing it, so you may as well write the words.’ So I did.”
As they were on such a strong musical vein of form, they worked together again in 1991 on Into the Great Wide Open, along with The Heartbreakers, which included the timeless, ‘Learning to Fly’. He also produced Petty’s final solo studio album, 2006’s Highway Companion, and continued to unlock greatness from the Americana icon.
The two youngest Traveling Wilburys had something special together, and when Petty sadly died in 2017, Lynne declared him the “coolest guy I ever knew”. The feeling was certainly mutual.
