When originally released in 2007, The Traveling Wilburys Collection debuted at #1 in the UK and six other countries and entered the US charts at #9, making it the highest chart debut of a box set at the time, and has since been certified Gold.
The previously released albums Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 feature music's greatest singer-songwriters—George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan—as the legendary band the Traveling Wilburys.
The Wilburys formed in 1988 after Dylan, Harrison, Petty, Lynne and Orbison assembled at Dylan's Malibu, California studio to record a B-side for the Harrison single “This Is Love.” The resulting song, “Handle With Care,” was instead released under the Wilburys name, with the artists posing as a band of brothers. George later said, “I liked the song and the way that it turned out with all these people on it so much that I just carried it around in my pocket for ages thinking, ‘Well what can I do with this thing?’ And the only thing to do I could think of was do another nine. Make an album.” The original album release, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, achieved great success; after hitting No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, the certified double Platinum album earned a GRAMMY® for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3, the group's second album, was released in 1990 and dedicated to Lefty (Roy Orbison) Wilbury, who passed away in late 1988 before recording could be completed. “She's My Baby” and “Wilbury Twist” became radio hits as the album reached #11 in the U.S. and was certified Platinum.
“…one of the few rock super groups actually deserving to be called either super or a group.” —Rolling Stone, Dec 1, 1988