History Music / TheTravelingWilburys

* CoolOldGuy: Roy and Bob (Who were 52 and 47 respectively when ''Volume 1'' released certainly qualify.

* FiveManBand:
** TheLeader: George Harrison, who naturally fell into the role and was responsible for arranging the songs and assigning vocal roles.
** TheLancer: Jeff Lynne, who produced the songs and worked to finalize the mixes according to George's vision.
** TheSmartGuy: Bob Dylan, who was brought in because the other members recognized him as a master lyricist.
** TheBigGuy: Tom Petty, whose rougher voice was used to bridge verses into choruses and anchor their harmonies.
** TheHeart: Roy Orbison, whose soulful vocals gave their songs a sweeter quality.
** TheSixthRanger: Jim Keltner, the percussionist who is played on all their songs and appeared in music videos, but wasn't a formal Wilbury. Instead, he was dubbed "Buster Sidebury".

** TheChick: Roy Orbison, whose soulful vocals gave their songs a sweeter quality.

* NoodleImplements: "Cool Dry Place" [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal mostly mentions musical machines]], with the addition of a few oddities.
** "Dirty World", too. Most of the items sound like they're taken from a car advert, but there are exceptions.

[[caption-width-right:350:Pictured: Musical Awesomeness]]

** AffectionateParody of Music/BruceSpringsteen. Nearly every other line has a reference to one of his songs, and the scenario itself is an UpTo11 stew of every trope in his ouvre.

** And arguably [[Music/CreedenceClearwaterRevival John Fogerty]], who made a live appearance in 1987 alongside George Harrison and Bob Dylan, in a group which bootleggers often refer to as "The [[MythologyGag Silver]] Wilburys". Strictly a FanNickname, though, as the ''real'' Wilburys weren't formed until 1988 (and the other Wilburys sans George and Dylan weren't present for this event anyway).

** NotCheatingUnlessYouGetCaught: "Jan had told him many times, 'It was * you* to * me* who taught in Jersey everything's legal as long as you don't get caught"

** {{Transgender}}: Tweeter. Notable that it's taken seriously, and portrayed non-sexually.

* PunnyName: The group's name originates from a piece of banter George Harrison and Jeff Lynne came up with while recording, in reference to mistakes: "''We'll bury''[[note]]Wilbury[[/note]] them in the mix."

For years, Harrison played around with the idea of forming a band out of established musicians who could come together as equals and make music by hanging out and jamming. This began to take shape during production of Harrison's eleventh studio album, ''Cloud Nine'', which Lynne was producing. Being temporarily based in Los Angeles and away from his FPSHOT[[note]]Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames[[/note]] home studio, he'd arranged to record a b-side at Dylan's garage studio. Before the session he and Lynne shared a meal with Orbison and invited him to join them at the recording and on the way there, they stopped by Petty's house to retrieve a guitar and asked him to come along.

For years, Harrison played around with the idea of forming a band out of established musicians who could come together as equals and make music by hanging out and jamming. This began to take shape during production of Harrison's eleventh studio album, ''Cloud Nine'', which Lynne was producing. Being temporarily based in Los Angeles and away from his FPSHOT[[note]]Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames[[/note]] home studio, he'd arranged to record a b-side at Dylan's garage studio. Before the session he and Lynne shared a meal with Orbison and invited him to join them at the recording and on the way there, they stopped by Petty's house to retrieve a guitar and asked him to come along and things just snowballed from there.

* [[AccidentalMarriage Accidental Supergroup]]: Jeff Lynne was producing a single b-side for George Harrison, who needed to go get a guitar that he'd loaned to Tom Petty, who mentioned that Bob Dylan had a pretty good home recording studio (since Harrison was recording in the USA and couldn't use his usual FPSHOT[[note]]Friar Park Studio, Henley-on-Thames[[/note]] home studio), and by the way he had just been talking to Roy Orbison... [[BlahBlahBlah Yada yada yada]], they had a hit single.

[[quoteright:263:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_band_photo_8773.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:263:Pictured: Musical Awesomeness]]

%%* AnonymousBand: Ostensibly.

** The Rhino Entertainment complete works box set regularizes the disc numbering by including a DVD (containing a documentary and all the band's music videos) as disc two.

%%* AntiLoveSong: "You Took My Breath Away" ("...I want it back again!")

%%* CoolOldGuy: Up to five of them, depending on the cutoff for "old".

%%* DreamTeam: If you've liked music anytime in the last 50 years, then yes.

* AffectionateParody: Many of their songs come across as this - taking standard [[TropesAreNotBad rock lyric tropes]] and pushing them just a little bit too far into absurdity.

* LineOfSightName: Reportedly the insporation for ''Handle With Care'' came from Harrison looking over at the markings on a crate used to ship some of the studio equipment.

* [[AccidentalMarriage Accidental Supergroup]]: Jeff Lynne was producing a single b-side for George Harrison, who needed to go get a guitar that he'd loaned to Tom Petty, who mentioned that Bob Dylan had a pretty good home recording studio (since Harrison was recording in the USA and couldn't use his usual FPSHOT home studio), and by the way he had just been talking to Roy Orbison... [[BlahBlahBlah Yada yada yada]], they had a hit single.

* ''[[TravelingWilburysVolume1 Volume 1]]'' (1988)

** {{Transgender}}: Tweeter. Notable that its taken seriously, and portrayed non-sexually.

* AnonymousBand: Ostensibly.
* AntiLoveSong: "You Took My Breath Away" ("...I want it back again!")

* BoDiddleyBeat: On "Margarita".
* CoolOldGuy: Up to five of them, depending on the cutoff for "old".

* DreamTeam: If you've liked music anytime in the last 50 years, then yes.

* GreenAesop: "The Devil's Been Busy" and possibly "Inside Out".

* IntercourseWithYou: "Dirty World", according to WordOfGod, is an AffectionateParody of Music/{{Prince}}. Which means you get Music/BobDylan singing lines like

* {{Joisey}}: "Tweeter and the Monkey Man", which also gives us examples of …

* BSide: What "Handle With Care" was originally going to be, until [[ExecutiveMeddling the label executives heard it, and decided an album was in order]].

* AllThereInTheManual[=/=]AlterEgoActing[=/=]BackStory: The Liner Notes and peripheral materials describe the group as members of some ancient clan of nomadic musicians, and give each member a Wilbury family name; a different one on each album. The group is apparently made up of half-brothers, all sons of [[ReallyGetsAround Charles Truscott Wilbury]], and different mothers.
* AnonymousBand[=/=]FakeBand: Ostensibly.

** ShootTheTV- The monkey man at the end. Apparently he objected to his portrayal in the news coverage.
** SoleSurvivor- Implied to be the fate of the Monkey Man.

-->''...reverbs we can't use, lots of DX7s and old athletic shoes...''