Look Up will not mark the first time Ringo Starr has played cowboy. He did it once before, immediately after the breakdown of The Beatles as a working group. Their dissolution whirred in the background, Let it Be causing a stir at a time when Paul McCartney was trying to do what the rest of the Fab Four were – making a name for themselves as solo artists. Say what you will about the success Starr had compared to his contemporaries; he likely has the most variety. Not much of it works but his dedication to fun and creative exploration is admirable, especially when it offers up the likes of Beaucoups of Blues. A love letter to a sound and genre he was never allowed to explore while part of a group chasing psychedelic tones and setting the standard. It is not like Starr can compete with Johnny Cash and the like but his foray into country is a harmless and oddly endearing one.
Dawdling opener Beaucoups of Blues is about what you can expect of a Starr-led Nashville sound. Those backing vocalists and the humdrum of the country genre take a little getting used to with the Liverpudlian vocal range but Starr sells the likes of Love Don’t Last Long tremendously. Heartbreaking and morbid in all the right ways, the wandering country charm is found on the road rather than at home. Beaucoups of Blues never shakes the imitation but it does have a strong feel for the genre and Starr is moved by the trail tales. Very Marty Robbins in its tender tones, the Fastest Growing Heartache in the West angle is a simple but well-trodden and effective emotional draw. Starr soon becomes completely unidentifiable, and that is the best compliment that could be levelled at an established artist. It takes him some growing into, but the country suit fits him like a glove.
Where he may lean into the romance of the times too much, a sickly feature at times, he does well to keep a steady flow of love in the Old West. Harmonica spins, warm country acoustics and the rest will come together naturally, as it does on Woman of the Night. Mean dogs and financial loans of $15 Draw are a bit aimless but shed light on the fun side of the cowboy melodrama Starr is creating here. Short, sweet flourishes of acoustic beauties are the aim of the game here and much of it toys with the expectations of the genre. It verges on novelty because Starr is trying his hand at it but what comes through is a sincere and often surprising piece of work. I Wouldn’t Have You Any Other Way may be a string-laden, soppy love song but it works as a counter to the flatlining country genre of the time.
Starr enlists some sharp country musicians who were flailing around in the genre at the time and pieces together a love letter to country music. We can only hope Look Up does the same. The Beatles’ drummer is more than capable of displaying his infatuation for the cool grooves of country again. Eat your heart out, Merle Haggard. Starr has the chops and the cool cowboy foresight necessary to play with the fundamentals of the genre. His drumming style is given a chance to shine on Silent Homecoming, too. These are not the gun-toting trail songs of a Robbins or Johnny Cash variety but a pop-adjacent traipse through the everyday Old West lives. Beaucoups of Blues works wonders.
