Ringo Starr returns with a refreshing quality found on his latest album, Long Long Road. He has left it almost too late to tap into the joys of country music. Those who remember Beaucoup of Blues will be apoplectic that it took this long for Starr to return to a genre that clearly means so much to him. But between Look Up and Long Long Road, The Beatles’ drummer has hit a comfortable niche for new music. He swore off releasing new albums and focused on EPs for a time – but the project was not the release cycle, but what he was releasing. Only now does it feel like Starr is finding a sound he is comfortable with and, relying on the likes of T Bone Burnett and lessons learned from a country jam session with Bob Dylan in the 1980s, Starr has pieced together a fine late-stage career album. It’s a stretch better than the self-titled album and Back Off Boogaloo, that’s for sure. Playful and sincere in equal measure is what Starr offers on Long Long Road.
Two singles and eight album tracks, the standard route of release is pushed out and with it comes quality recordings from the veteran musician. Starr opted to adapt himself with Choose Love, one of his better songs in recent memory, and lead single It’s Been Too Long had the wispy style of an old, unreliable friend knocking on your door once more. There’s an overwhelming niceness to Long Long Road that featured too on Look Up. It’s what made his 2025 country album such a sweet listen, and what cements Long Long Road as an easy-going, frills-free time. Starr wants stories that will set the heart alight, whether they’re true or not. Returning Without Tears is a staggering first track for Long Long Road. A song that finally gets to grips with the nuance of Starr’s voice, the charming, off-kilter addition to countrified tones and sincerity is a delight. Instrumentally solid, the usual run of acoustic guitar and swelling, emotionally contrite sentimentality. It works.
Starr offers up some of his best-written songs here. Returning Without Tears and Choose Love are among his best. It’s a seismic shift and the lessons learned from Look Up are clear. Baby Don’t Go is a great example of countrified instrumental spirit and plants Starr not as a singer, but as a rallying cry to keep those guitar thrills in check. Less is more, Burnett has found. Little rises and falls from Starr’s vocal range on I Don’t See Me in Your Eyes Anymore captures that sombre feeling of love reaching a sudden, sad end. That’s not to say Long Long Road is devoid of any hammy or sickly sweet moments. Both Why and You and I (Wave of Love) just need a synth and they can be slotted onto the worst of Starr’s 1980s output. A contradiction to the very purpose of these stripped-back country moments.
Not enough to derail the album, though. Choose Love is a smart track, a little nod not just to Starr’s peace and love rhetoric (his post-box remains closed) but to Tomorrow Never Knows and the Ringoisms that propelled The Beatles into naming some of their very best songs. Charming reflection is the key to Long Long Road, and Starr offers up plenty of that throughout this latest album. For an artist who is constantly sidelined as the so-called fun one of The Beatles, there’s an emotional maturity to the likes of She’s Gone that Starr hasn’t touched since the days of The No-No Song. A harmony that’d put The Beach Boys on alert for the final, title track, is a bold move too. Starr turns into a self-help guru in the final moments of Long Long Road. Let those thoughts in, he says, invite the darkness to the vulnerable spots of your mind and beat it into place with peace and love. Strong stuff from Starr. He has finally made good on his love of country music.
