To file under the fantasy music collaborations category, Billy Joel has been toying with the idea of joining forces with some contemporary music greats. The “Piano Man” crooner – who recently performed his first new music in decades at the Grammys – appeared on the “Howard Stern Show” this week, when the eponymous host observed that Joel should have been in the Traveling Wilburys.
“I thought about putting together a band,” Joel retorted. “Me, Don Henley and Sting, and maybe John Mayer on guitar.” That roster would surely be a worthy update to the Wilburys, which was a supergroup team-up between the late Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and George Harrison, along with Jeff Lynne and Bob Dylan.
When Stern asked why Joel’s supergroup hasn’t become a reality yet, the five-time Grammy-winner chalked it up to, “Well, everybody’s busy.” “You always say to the other guys, ‘Yeah, I’ll see you on the road and we’ll get together,’ and you never do it,” he added.
Joel also said he talks to Paul McCartney “a lot,” but added that he doesn’t “have the nerve” to ask the former Beatle to band up. “I can’t. He was in the superest group of all,” he explained.
Joel humored Stern while he continued to fantasize about who would be in the supergroup, and said, “Ringo would be good. Ringo is a great drummer. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves.”
Earlier this month, Joel released his first single in 17 years, titled “Turn the Lights Back On.” According to Joel’s official website, he wrote the song along with Grammy-nominated songwriter and producer Freddy Wexler – who has worked with the likes of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande and Pink — Arthur Bacon and Wayne Hector.