Homer Wilbury

From left, Jeff Lynne, Matt Hurwitz (aka Homer Wilbury) and Tom Petty. Notice the shirt Petty is wearing. (Photo courtesy of Matt Hurwitz.)


Monday's (6/11/07) USA Today features a piece on the reissue and history of the 1980s supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys (George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison), my first for USA Today. I was fortunate to get to spend some time talking with Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty a few weeks ago (May 10), as well as Olivia Harrison and Barbara Orbison (by phone). All of them were really, really nice folks and had wonderful stories to tell.
When we finished the interview, I asked Tom and Jeff if we could take a photograph, and they said, "Sure." We had just been talking about how, on the original album, their real names didn't appear on the sleeve, but instead appeared as pseudonyms - Nelson Wilbury, Otis Wilbury, etc. So we were standing there, and I said, "Oh, you guys have to give me a Wilbury name." Tom thought for about 1/4 of a second, and said, "Homer."