What is the best thing that can happen to a guy who loves Tom Petty, Jeff Lynn, George Harrison, Roy Orbison & Bob Dylan? How about if they all start a band together? That’s exactly what happened in 1988, and in about 1991 I found out about the Traveling Wilburys. Probably some of the best Rock music ever recorded in my opinion. I’ve always loved Tom Petty. I never really liked the Beatles, but I did love George’s stuff. Somehow I got my hands on an ELO record (that’s right a big giant vinyl record!), and I used to listen to it over and over when I was a kid. There’s no arguing that Roy Orbison has the most haunting voice in the history of rock music. And Bob Dylan is a legend - not only did I listen to my parents 8 tracks of him, but I started following him myself through the later years.

But the really cool thing for me was that I loved the Wilburys in spite of all the fame that surrounded them. It’s just good old strum the heck out of the guitar and organic brush drumming, with some amazing vocals and insane writing. I would highly recommend you going out and getting every song they recorded. This is definitely where I got my acoustic guitar playing style from, as well as a lot of my drumming licks. I tend to use brushes a lot, or just play 8th or 16th notes on the snare rather than the high-hat - no crazy fills, just sure & steady. Here’s a couple videos that are worth the watch:

Handle Me With Care

Documentary Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Long live the Wilburys.