Ringo Starr has announced his first album in six years, the country-themed Look Up, for 2025.
The Beatles’ drummer will release the album on January 10 after a period of consistent EP releases, including Rewind Forward in 2023 and this year’s Record Store Day exclusive, Crooked Boy. In an announcement made on Starr’s YouTube channel earlier today (October 18), he revealed it was “back to country music” for his sound.
He said: “We’re back to country music, and I love it! I was making EPs through the pandemic and I met you [T Bone Burnett] at this hotel and you came over to the house and I said ‘how many songs you got’ and you said ‘nine’. So I went and we made a regular CD and it’s great.”
Burnett, who was a guitarist with Bob Dylan’s band in the 1970s, has won several Grammy Awards and moved into producing with the likes of Elvis Costello’s King of America and Raising Sand from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss to his name.
Speaking of the album, Starr further revealed he was set to make a country-themed EP but it evolved into an album. “I’ve always loved country music,” he said on his official website. “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.
“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.”
Bunnett added: “I have loved Ringo Starr and his playing and his singing and his aesthetic for as long as I can (or care to) remember. 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.”
The album’s lead single, Time on My Hands, is out now. Fans were delighted by the announcement after believing Starr had called time permanently on long play released. One wrote: “I read somewhere Ringo had decided to only make EP’s. It is great to see a full on full size LP from the world’s greatest drummer.”
Others pointed to the ill-forgotten country album from Starr’s solo career, Beaucoups of Blues and suggested it was “definitely underrated”. They wrote: “This is really his second country album. Did people forget about 1970’s “Beaucoups Of Blues”?? that was Ringo’s first country album. Sadly it’s forgotten but i listen to it, its just as much a classic as his self-titled 1973 album. i love that album! definitely underrated…”
Listen to lead single Time on My Hands below.
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