It’s honestly hard to believe that The Traveling Wilburys ever existed. Running from 1988 to 1991 and leaving behind a pair of platinum albums, they were the textbook definition of a supergroup—merging the talents of George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Electric Light Orchestra mastermind Jeff Lynne, and (prior to his death in late 1988) Roy Orbison.
It’s hard to argue that we’ve seen a real successor, at least in terms of star power. Still, it’s fun to debate what one might look like in 2025. What are the parameters for this imaginary band? What makes a musician worthy? Is it fame and chart success? Critical acclaim and reputation? Do the artists in question have to channel the Wilburys’ roots-rock spirit? Does age matter? There are tons of questions.
Redditor Hank_Henry_Hll brought this thought experiment to the Internet and outlined the terms. “There was a recent Roy Orbison thread which got me to thinking about a modern day analog to the absolutely amazing supergroup The Traveling Wilburys,” they wrote. “Which artists have the chops and the popularity to even be considered? Artist have to still alive. Also must be between 35 and 55 years old. I doubt we find anyone to be honest but might be fun to discuss.”
It’s fun to sort through the responses and see, even with those specifics in place, how music fans interpret this prompt. The OP’s suggestion was a trio: Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Jack White, and John Mayer. (If we’re following the rules precisely, Grohl would be disqualified at age 56). All of those guys pop up throughout the thread, with White near the top: The highest-rated comment suggests a collaboration between the former White Stripes front man and Queens of the Stone Age leader Josh Homme, a collaboration I would absolutely love to hear. White feels like a natural fit: capable of writing, singing, and ripping a guitar solo when necessary. Homme seems like more of an outlier, given his preference for heavy sounds, but I have no doubt he could pull it off.
Another popular pick is Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who makes sense on multiple levels. He really captures the Wilburys aesthetic: a classic singer-songwriter and studio maverick, with an affinity for both folksiness and classic rock sounds (His name pops up a dozen or so times, and he seems like a clear winner—that is, until you realize he’s 57, just outside of the requested age range).
After a while, you realize that most people have thrown out the rules entirely and decided to follow their gut, which is probably the cleanest course of action. “What’s crazy is how fast time flies,” someone wrote. “Rules say have to be 35-55. We all get old and sometimes the numbers sneak up on us…[Oasis’] Noel [Gallagher] is 57, [Pearl Jam’s] Eddie [Vedder] is 60, Tweedy is 57, [Radiohead’s] Thom [Yorke] is 57, Beck just sneaks in at 54, and Neil Young is 116.”
Everyone above earned multiple Reddit votes, as did Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, and My Morning Jacket leader Jim James. Speaking of the latter, multiple people shouted out his one-off supergroup collaboration Monsters of Folk, which also featured singer-songwriter M. Ward and two members of Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis).
You could curate multiple killer five-person supergroups from that batch of musicians. But, if you go with the votes, it would probably look something like this: White, Vedder, Beck, Tweedy, and Grohl, with Mayer and Jason Isbell as possible alternates. (My personal vote: Yorke, James, Tweedy, Beck, and White.)
The irony is that, by trying to artificially bring these musicians together, we’d lose the organic chemistry and spontaneity that made The Traveling Wilburys possible in the first place. The project started in April 1988 after Harrison’s record company asked him for an extra song to include on a single release. He didn’t have one, so he decided to quickly crank out a track in the studio—and through a series of casual coincidences, the other members were available to co-write and record what became “Handle With Care,” the accidental band’s debut single.
“It’s one of those things that, I think, had you tried to plan it, it would have never happened,” Harrison told MTV in 1988. “It just happened on its own accord.”
This article originally appeared in May.
