Ringo Starr Is Releasing a Country Album, ‘Look Up’
· Ultimate Classic RockRingo Starr will release a new album early next year. Look Up is a country record consisting of 11 original songs, most of them cowritten by the album's producer, T Bone Burnett.
The former Beatle cowrote one of the new songs in addition to playing drums and singing on the project. Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius and Molly Tuttle appear on the tracks.
"I’ve always loved country music," Starr notes in a press release announcing the album. "And when I asked T Bone to write me a song, I didn’t even think at the time that it would be a country song – but of course it was, and it was so beautiful.
READ MORE: Top 10 Ringo Starr Beatles Songs
"I had been making EPs at the time and so I thought we would do a country EP - but when he brought me nine songs I knew we had to make an album. And I am so glad we did. I want to thank and send peace and love to T Bone and all the great musicians who helped make this record. It was a joy making it and I hope it is a joy to listen to."
You can listen to the first song released from Look Up, "Time on My Hands," below. The album will be released on Jan. 10.
Starr teased the project earlier this year when he mentioned that he was working on the album with Burnett in an interview. In a way, it marks a return to the genre that started Starr's solo career in 1970, when he released his first LP, the country-leaning Beaucoup of Blues.
READ MORE: Top 10 Ringo Starr Beatles Songs
Before that, several of the songs he sang on Beatles albums - including "Act Naturally," "What Goes On" and "Don’t Pass Me By" - were country in origin.
Why Did Ringo Starr Make a Country Album?
Starr first met Burnett in the '70s; they recently reconnected at an event in Los Angeles, and Starr asked Burnett to write a song for a new EP he was recording. Burnett handed him enough songs for a new album, his first since 2019.
"I have loved Ringo Starr and his playing and his singing and his aesthetic for as long as I can remember," Burnett says. "He changed the way every drummer after him played, with his inventive approach to the instrument. And he has always sung killer rockabilly, as well as being a heartbreaking ballad singer.
"To get to make this music with him was something like the realization of a 60-year dream I’ve been living. None of the work that I have done through a long life in music would have happened if not for him and his band. Among other things, this album is a way I can say thank you for all he has given me and us."
Starr will play two shows at Nashville's famous Ryman Auditorium to promote the album on Jan. 14 and 15. Tickets go on sale Oct. 25.
You can see the track listing for Look Up below.
Ringo Starr, 'Look Up' Track Listing
Breathless (featuring Billy Strings)
Look Up (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Time On My Hands
Never Let Me Go (featuring Billy Strings)
I Live For Your Love (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Come Back (featuring Lucius)
Can You Hear Me Call (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Rosetta (featuring Billy Strings and Larkin Poe)
You Want Some
String Theory (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Thankful (featuring Alison Krauss)
13. 'Yellow Submarine' (1969)
The soundtrack to the animated Beatles movie (which they didn't provide the voices for, by the way) includes two previously released cuts, a handful of leftover session tracks from the era and an entire side of orchestra music from the film. Completists probably need the four new songs; everyone else can skip them.
12. 'Magical Mystery Tour' (1967)
Released as an EP in the U.K. and as an album in the U.S., 'Magical Mystery Tour' is spotty, especially when compared to the Beatles' other records from the era. But several of its songs – "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane" and "All You Need Is Love," especially – rank among the group's all-time best.
11. 'Beatles for Sale' (1964)
Tasked with recording their fourth album in a little more than a year, the Beatlemania-battered quartet quickly shuttled to the studio for a loose set of covers, tossed-off originals and a few gems. Success was taking its toll on the group by now, and the tired, ho-hum 'Beatles for Sale' proved it. Just look at their weary faces on the cover.
10. 'Let It Be' (1970)
The last album to be released by the Beatles was recorded before 'Abbey Road,' but tumultuous sessions and a messy post-production schedule delayed its debut for a year. In a way, 'Let It Be' makes a pivotal swan song, with many of the songs coming off as eulogies for a once-great group. They're still mostly excellent here, but the cracks widened beyond repair.
9. 'Help!' (1965)
Ostensibly the soundtrack to their second movie, the Beatles' fifth album is their first real declaration of independence. They'd launch a creative whirlwind a few months later on 'Rubber Soul' that would pretty much last until the end of their career. But that album's seeds are planted here on songs like "Ticket to Ride," "Yesterday" and the hit title track.
8. 'Please Please Me' (1963)
The Beatles recorded their debut album in one 13-hour session. And it sounds like it. The group is energized as they plow through a stage repertoire of jumpy original tunes (opener "I Saw Her Standing There") and revitalized covers (closer "Twist and Shout"). They'd get sharper and tighter in the studio, but this is the sound of the band in all of its primal, ragged glory.
7. 'With the Beatles' (1963)
The Beatles' second album was sorta reworked as 'Meet the Beatles!' for the group's U.S. debut, and we prefer that version. But the original U.K. 'With the Beatles' stands as the official record these days. And it's not bad, mixing sprightly originals ("All My Loving") with well-oiled covers ("Please Mister Postman"). Beatlemania pretty much starts here.
6. 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964)
The first album to include songs written entirely by the band (well, John Lennon and Paul McCartney), 'A Hard Day's Night' is pretty much 30 minutes of pure Beatlemania. From the shimmering chord that kicks off both the album and the title track, the Beatles never let up. It's easy to get caught up in their enthusiasm.
5. 'Rubber Soul' (1965)
The Beatles responded to Beatlemania, Bob Dylan and pop music in general with their milestone sixth album. It inspired tons of artists – including Brian Wilson, who crafted the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' in reply; the Beatles, in turn, responded with 'Sgt. Pepper's' – to move into a new era, free of commercial expectations and LP filler. They were only just beginning.
4. 'Abbey Road' (1969)
The last album recorded by the Beatles (but released before the temporarily shelved 'Let It Be'), 'Abbey Road' presented a briefly reinvigorated group trying one last time to pull it all together. George Harrison delivered two of his best songs ("Something," "Here Comes the Sun"), John Lennon plugged in and rocked out ("Come Together") and Paul McCartney checked in with a sprawling centerpiece, the eight-song, 16-minute medley that stands as one of his greatest achievements.
3. The White Album (1968)
The Beatles all but splintered into four solo artists on their messy, epic and brilliant self-titled LP (commonly known as the White Album). It took two records to contain all their ideas – some of them great, some of them maddening, all of them fascinating. It was only a matter of time before they went their separate ways; the White Album, for better or worse, leads the charge.
2. 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (1967)
Pop music grew up in 1967, when the Beatles forged a masterpiece of sound, texture and melody. Its kaleidoscopic approach to record-making – layer after layer of instruments and voices piled on top of each other until it all blurs into one colorful explosion – would become a marker and pattern for everything that came after it. In many ways, it still hasn't been topped.
1. 'Revolver' (1966)
The Beatles turned themselves inside out on 'Revolver,' exercising a creative freedom following their retirement from the road. They used the studio as their playground, turning the record's 14 songs into the sort of mind-expanding musical template that would influence artists for generations to come. 'Sgt. Pepper's' may be the more complete work, but 'Revolver' is way more fun.