• Writers: The Traveling Wilburys
• Producers: Jeff Lynne and George Harrison
• Recorded: Spring 1988 in Los Angeles
• Released: October 18th, 1988
• Players:
  George Harrison — vocals, acoustic, electric and slide guitars
  Bob Dylan — vocals, acoustic guitar
  Roy Orbison — vocals, acoustic guitar
  Tom Petty — vocals, acoustic guitar
  Jeff Lynne — vocals, acoustic guitar, bass and keyboards
  Jim Keltner — drums
• Album: Vol. One (Wilbury, 1988)
• The Traveling Wilburys were formed in the spring of 1988, when Beatles singer-guitarist George Harrison needed to record a B-side for a single from his Cloud Nine album. He hooked up with a few friends — Roy Orbison and Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne — to write the song.
• Before they could record the track, Harrison had to pick up a guitar at Tom Petty‘s house, and Petty tagged along as they all moved on to Bob Dylan‘s home studio in Malibu, California. It was there that the quintet came up with “Handle With Care.”
• Executives at Warner Bros. were so impressed with the song that they refused to bury it on a B-side and instead persuaded the guys to record a full album — which they finished in two weeks.
• Harrison noted, “When we did the first (album), we didn’t really know too much about the Wilburys…it’s this tight little band that plays acoustic (guitars) and writes wacky songs, has fun and tries to get that energy on record. It’s a hoot.”
• Harrison also said that the Wilburys was a social gathering as much as a creative unit: “Musically it’s fun — obviously — but also it’s fun to hang out with these guys. It’s like our own little social club. It gives us an excuse to hang out together.”
• The five musicians created a legend about a fictitious group whose members were all descended from a 6th Century clan and were all sons of different wives of one Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr. They each adopted Wilbury pseudonyms: Harrison was Nelson Wilbury, Dylan was Lucky, Petty was Charlie T., Jr., Orbison was Lefty, and Lynne was Otis.
• “Handle With Care” peaked at Number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• The Volume One album was even more successful, reaching Number Three on the Billboard 200 and selling more than three million copies.

FAST FORWARD:

• Orbison died on December 6th, 1988. The second Wilburys single, “End Of The Line,” and their 1990 album, Vol. 3, were dedicated to him.
• There was some talk that “Runaway” singer Del Shannon would take Orbison’s place in the group, but he committed suicide on February 8th, 1990.
• Harrison received the first Billboard magazine Century Award on December 9th, 1992.
• Harrison died on November 29th, 2001, after a long battle with cancer.
• Wilburys members Lynne and Petty joined Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and others at a concert in London to commemorate the first anniversary of Harrison’s death on November 29th, 2002, at the Royal Albert Hall. Proceeds from the event went towards the Material World Charitable Foundation, a personal favorite of Harrison’s that supports the arts, music, education, and people with special needs.
• Despite rumors, the Wilburys never recorded anything after Vol. 3, although Lynne continued to work with both Harrison and Petty on their own projects, and Harrison played on Lynne’s return with the Electric Light Orchestra in 2001, which was called Zoom.
• In 2002, Harrison was given a posthumous lifetime-achievement award at the British Independent Film Awards, honoring the work of his HandMade Films, which produced movies such as Monty Python’s Life Of Brian and Time Bandits; the Madonna-Sean Penn vehicle Shanghai Express; and Water, in which Harrison made a cameo with Starr and Clapton.
• Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2004.
• In 2007, a compilation of all the Traveling Wilburys material was finally released.