In a post to Instagram made earlier today (July 28), Ringo Starr confirmed he was working on another album.
The Beatles drummer confirmed his work on an album he jokingly called Look Up II just eight months after the release of his country record, Look Up. In a video thanking fans for their participation in his birthday wish to say “peace and love” at noon, no matter where in the world, Starr said an album is on the way. It follows on from Look Up, an album which broke Starr’s streak of EP’s after he swore off another long-play project. His 2019 album What’s My Name was his most recent, and final, studio release until Starr paired with producer T. Bone Burnett for Look Up.
Starr said: “I’m in the studio here now doing another album with T. Bone, thank you Lord. Get ready for the next album, Look Up II… it won’t be called that.” While details are limited on what the album could contain, the pairing of Starr and Burnett could suggest further country music from the duo.
In an interview with Starr and Burnett earlier this year, the pair spoke of how working on the album had come as a surprise to both. Burnett confirmed it was a dream of his to work with Starr on an album, while the Goodnight Vienna and Beaucoup of Blues album maker said he still had reason to create new music.
Burnett said: “To get to make this music with him was something like the realisation 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.
“They [The Beatles] opened doors and windows that so many of us have walked through, climbed through over the years. I’ve got this deep gratitude to all those cats, and Ringo in particular. The gift that they have given us, that he’s given us, is immeasurable. To even get to be friendly with Ringo means a tremendous amount to me.”
Starr added: “It was emotional. It’s emotional music [country music] when I started listening to it, and I’m quite an emotional person myself. In the 50s, every country song was either ‘the wife left,’ ‘the dog’s dead,’ or ‘I need some money for the jukebox’.
“I think there’s always a need for music, and there’s always a need for joy. The world keeps going round and round. There’s a lot of craziness, violence, people making demands on other people. That’s the world we all know.
“I was born in 1940. There’s a lot of people out there [who] didn’t like us. It’s part of our world, it’s a pity, but I do this and hope someone will do it too and that’s two of us that’s done it. I can’t say ‘do this’ but I can’t demand it either. That’s my way of doing it, really, it translates into every language. Peace and love.”
