Ringo Starr To Release New Country Project ‘Look Up’
Ringo Starr has teamed with T Bone Burnett on a brand new country album, Look Up, due out Jan. 10 via UMG Nashville. A track from the project, “Time On My Hands,” is available to stream today (Oct. 18.)
T Bone Burnett and Ringo Starr. Photo: Dan Winters
The collection features 11 new originals, recorded this year in Nashville and L.A. Nine songs on Look Up were written or co-written by Burnett, one by Billy Swan and the other co-written by Starr and Bruce Sugar. Starr sang and played drums on all the tracks and co-wrote the album’s closer, “Thankful,” featuring Alison Krauss. Other talent contributing to the album include Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius and Molly Tuttle. Daniel Tashian is a co-producer on the album along with Sugar and Burnett.
Starr has had a lifelong love of country music and has celebrated it throughout his career, including during his years with the Beatles where he performed and wrote numerous country-tinged songs like “Act Naturally,” “What Goes On” and “Don’t Pass Me By,” as well as with the earlier Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. He also recorded a country album, Beaucoups of Blues, in 1970 as his second solo album. His love of country and the blues led him to try and emigrate from London to Texas while still a teen, after reading that Lightnin’ Hopkins lived in Houston.
The artist’s new album came out of a chance meeting with Burnett at an event in Los Angeles in 2022 (the two had first met in the 1970s), where Starr asked Burnett to write a song for an EP he was recording. Burnett returned with nine songs, which put Starr on the path to record Look Up, his first full-length project since 2019.
“I’ve always loved country music. 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,” Ringo recalls. “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 & 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.”
“I have loved Ringo Starr and his playing and his singing and his aesthetic for as long as I can (or care to) remember,” says Burnett. “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 bring the new music to Nashville when he headlines two Ryman shows Jan. 14-15. Starr and Burnett will also be featured on an episode of TalkShopLive on Oct. 22 at 7 pm ET.
Look Up Track List:
1. “Breathless” (featuring Billy Strings) (T Bone Burnett)
2. “Look Up” (featuring Molly Tuttle) (Daniel Tashian, T Bone Burnett)
3. “Time On My Hands” (Paul Kennerly, Daniel Tashian, T Bone Burnett)
4. “Never Let Me Go” (featuring Billy Strings) (T Bone Burnett)
5. “I Live For Your Love” (featuring Molly Tuttle) (Billy Swan, T Bone Burnett)
6. “Come Back” (featuring Lucius) (T Bone Burnett)
7. “Can You Hear Me Call” (featuring Molly Tuttle) (T Bone Burnett)
8. “Rosetta” (featuring Billy Strings and Larkin Poe) (T Bone Burnett)
9. “You Want Some” (Billy Swan)
10. “String Theory” (featuring Molly Tuttle) (Daniel Tashian, T Bone Burnett)
11. “Thankful” (featuring Alison Krauss) (Richard Starkey, Bruce Sugar)
