25 Days of Harrison Day 22- The Traveling Wilburys Volume III

The above video is Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Tom Petty talking about the passing of their friend and fellow musician, Roy Orbison.  Before reading about The Traveling Wilburys Volume III, read about a prior description about the formation of The Traveling Wilburys, Traveling Wilburys Volume I, and their chart history by clicking here.

Producers: Spike and Clayton Wilbury
Recorded: April- May 1990
Released: 29 October, 1990
Spike Wilbury: Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, sitar, lead vocals, backing vocals
Clayton Wilbury: Acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards, lead vocals, backing vocals
Boo Wilbury: Acoustic guitar, harmonica, lead vocals, backing vocals
Muddy Wilbury: acoustic guitar, bass guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals
Jim Keltner: Drums, Percussion
Jim Horn: Saxophones
Ray Cooper: Percussion
Gary Moore: lead guitar on "She's My Baby"


It was two years after the passing of Roy Orbison and two years after The Traveling Wilburys had released their first album.  In April of 1990, the remaining brothers returned to the studio after Bob Dylan had returned to touring in the late 80s, doing thirteen gigs with Tom Petty, some with the Grateful Dead, and then onto his Never Ending Tour in 1988. Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne were working on Roy's last album, Mystery Girl, which was released in 1989. Jeff had also produced Tom Petty's solo album, Full Moon Fever, also in 1989. Bob was working on his new album in 1990, Under the Red Sky, which George Harrison played on. Also, Jeff Lynne was working on his album, Armchair Theatre, which Tom and George worked on in 1990. It was time for the four to get back together to record a second album; Traveling Wilburys Volume III, was the result.

Instead of using their old persona; Nelson, Otis, Lucky, and Charlie T Jr. Volume III introduced a new band of brothers, George was now known as Spike Wilbury, Jeff as Clayton, Bob had became Boo, and Tom as Muddy. The recording for the album went from April to May and was released on 29 October, 1990, being produced by their own Spike and Clayton.

Track List:

1. She's My Baby
2. Inside Out
3. If You Belonged To Me
4. The Devil's Been Busy
5. 7 Deadly Sins
6. Poor House
7. Where Were You Last Night
8. Cool Dry Place
9. New Blue Moon
10. You Took My Breath Away
11. Wilbury Twist

Bonus tracks released on The Traveling Wilburys Collection box set in 2007:

1. Nobody's Child (Cy Coben, Mel Foree)
2. Run Away (Max Crook, Del Shannon)

"Nobody's Child" was recorded and released for a charity for the Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation, founded by George's second wife, Olivia. The song appeared on the album, Nobody's Child: Romanian Angel Appeal. The group also recorded a brilliant cover of Del Shannon's "Run Away". The above video is the full Volume III album.

 Although the album didn't do as great as the first, it placed 11th in The Billboard 200 charts. Singles like Inside Out place 16 in Mainstream Rock. She's My Baby received spot number 2 in Mainstream Rock chart.



It all started with one musician looking to write a B-side for his new album, that turned into a band full of brothers.

"Just when you thought that real music was gone forever..... there came The Traveling Wilburys"

To see a great interview with Tom, Jeff, and George click here.

25 Days Of Harrison Day 21- The Traveling Wilburys Volume I

"What I'd really like to do next is... to do an album with me and some of my mates... a few tunes, you know. Maybe The Traveling Wilburys... it's this new group I got: it's called the Traveling Wilburys, I'd like to do an album with them and later we can all do our own albums again."-George Harrison

It was the year 1988 when George Harrison was working on his album Cloud Nine, an album who was created by Harrison himself, singer/songwriter and friend, Jeff Lynne and was being produced and distributed by Warner Bros Records.Warner Brothers had asked George to write a B-side for his single called "This Is Love".

George had figured he'd go to a studio and record a song, good friend of George's and one of the most influential musicians of all time, Bob Dylan, had a studio. George  and Jeff called Bob up asking if they could use his studio, Bob allowed it and it was just the three of them; Harrison, Lynne, and Dylan. Jeff at the time was working with the legendary musician, Roy Orbison, who Jeff had mentioned his record he was making with George and Roy wanted to help. It was during one night that George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, and Bob Dylan, were eating together in Bob's home studio in Malibu, California. Now it was the four of them, George, Jeff, Bob, and Roy who immediately went to start working, but George had forgotten his guitar at a friends house, it was then the young heart-breaker, Tom Petty had joined the group. George had left to get his guitar at Tom's house and returned to Bob's studio accompanied by Tom Petty.

"...and so I just thought I'll just go into the studio tomorrow and do one, and it happened that Jeff was working with Roy and Roy wanted to come. My guitar was at Tom's house for some reason and I had to go round and get it. And the only studio that we could find available was Bob's. So we thought, Bobs got one, we'll just call him up."

The group worked a few days on a song, getting it right. It was one of those situation that you had five brilliant musicians in a room and a line would be tossed out, written down on a piece of paper until the song was complete. Someone had asked, "What are we going to call it?", George had looked at a packaging box that read "Handle With Care". Thus, George's B-Side was born. But, it wasn't a song based for George's vocals, and George didn't want it to be, 

"So everybody was there and I thought I'm not gonna just sing it myself, I've got Roy Orbison standing there. I'm gonna write a bit for Roy to sing. And Then as it progressed then I started doing the vocals and I just thought I might as well push it a bit and get Tom and Bob to sing the bridge."-George Harrison on writing "Handle With Care"

"A couple of days later George came by my office to play the new 'B-side.' We went next door to A&R head Lenny Waronker's office so he could hear it too. George played us 'Handle With Care.' Our reaction was immediate. This was a song we knew could not be wasted on some B-side. Roy Orbison's vocal was tremendous. I really loved the beautiful guitar figure that George played. The guys had really nailed it. Lenny and I stumbled over each others' words, asking, 'Can't we somehow turn this into an album?' (I also had a suspicion that perhaps George had been hungering for another band experience.)" -Mo Ostin of Warner Bros. Records

 The name Traveling Wilbury's came from a joke between George and Jeff who called the studio equipment "wilburys". The original name for the group was The Trembling Wilbury's , it was Jeff who suggested "Traveling". The group went on to record The Traveling Wilburys Volume I, but not under their own names. The Traveling Wilburys had became brothers, George becoming Nelson Wilbury, Jeff being Otis, Roy becoming Lefty, Bob had taken on the persona as Lucky, and Tom, being the youngest became Charlie T. Wilbury Jr. The group used drummer Jim Keltner on their songs. The Following video is "The True Story of The Traveling Wilburys":

 
Traveling Wilburys Volume I track list:

1.  Handle with Care
2. Dirty World
3. Rattled
4. Last Night
5. Not Alone Anymore
6. Congratulations
7. Heading for the Light
8. Margarita
9. Tweeter and The Monkey Man
10. End Of The Line

 

The album was released on 18 October, 1988 and went to number three in The Billboard 200 charts. Singles like End Of The Line, peaked  number 28 in Adult Contemporary charts, 2 in Mainstream Rock, 63 in The Billboard Hot 100. Handle with Care reached 2 in Mainstream Rock, 45 in The Billboard Hot 100. Heading For The Light peaked at number 7 in Mainstream Rock charts. Last Night reached 5 in Mainstream Rock. The album also was awarded Grammy Award for Best Rock Preformance by Duo or Group with Vocal.

6 December 1988 the world wept at the passing of the legacy of the beautiful man, Roy Orbison who had passed away of a heart attack. He was remembered in the Traveling Wilbury's video for "End Of The Line", where they're on a steam engine train, during Lefty's refrain the video focuses on a rocking chair holding his guitar and  a picture of Orbison standing next to it. Roy will be remembered as a true music inspiration, but not only as that but as a friend to many and for those who knew him as an overall great guy, there's really no words good enough to describe him.

"All I can really say about him is, you know, we loved him. We told him, fortunately, at any given opportunity, you know any time we had we always told him we loved him. We always hugged him. And said, 'Roy, you're so great.' I once said to him, 'Roy, you're probably the greatest singer in the world.' and he said '...probably.'"-Tom Petty

The following video is the Traveling Wilbury's "End Of The Line":