Category Archives: Ringo Starr

The Pre-Christmas Bealtes Release List – Even More To Add!

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In late October we published a graphic titled “If You Want To Keep Up, Here’s Everything You’ll Need To Order” showing what we then thought was every Beatle, solo, or Beatle-related title released (or about to be released) this holiday season.

It didn’t last long. Some helpful readers pointed out we’d left out Ringo’s Stop & Smell The Roses – the numbered, liquid vinyl edition – limited to 400 copies.

This was due November 14, but seems to have been delayed. It is currently looking like December 5 now.

And the other Ringo Starr was a red vinyl re-issue of his 14th studio album, Choose Love from 2005. This had first been slated for Record Store Day Black Friday, but was quietly removed from official lists prior to the day. It’s popped up again on the Friday Music site, this time with a late January 2026 release date (though knowing Friday Music that is extremely likely to change):

Then came news of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono ‘War Is Over (If You Want It)’ 12″ Zoetrope pressing issued to coincide with the release of the children’s hardback book and the premiere of the short animated film of the same name on YouTube.

Then Dark Horse Records announced it would be issuing a further title from the Yusuf/Cat Stevens back catalogue that the label now has the rights to. It’s called Tell ‘Em I’m Gone and it will be on yellow vinyl:

So, each of these were duly added into a revised graphic and we were just about to re-publish when last Friday came news of yet another collectable, this time linked to the Beatles’ Anthology re-issue – and in particular Anthology 4. On it are the 2025 re-mixes of ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ and they are now being released as a limited edition, double A-side 7″ translucent milk white vinyl single. This is the 2025 mix of both songs.

There’s been no indication of a CD version of the single being made available (except for Japan where there’s been an exclusive Japan-only CD announced). Nor has there been any talk of updated versions of the ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’ EPs (or “maxi-singles”) which were originally released to accompany Volumes 1 and 2 of Anthology back in 1995 and 1996. That means all of the extra tracks on those EPs will remain unavailable, with the exception of the song ‘This Boy’, which has been added to the Anthology Volume 4 discs.

The ‘Free As A Bird’ (2025 Mix)/’Real Love’ (2025 Mix) 7″ coloured vinyl single is only available from Beatles official stores (e.g. in the UK or the US), or from certain Universal Music online stores (eg. this one in Germany).

So, it has been a most busy time for any Beatle collector who is a completist. There’s been so much product so fast it’s been difficult to keep up.

To help, here’s our updated visual. If you want everything, this is what you’ll need to order. There are no fewer that 51 items here! This has got to be unprecedented in the run-up to Christmas:

(Click on the graphic to see a larger version)

If You Want To Keep Up, Here’s Everything You’ll Need to Order

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It’s been a busy time over the last few weeks and months for Beatle collectors.

There’s been so much product announced it’s hard to keep on top of it.

So, we decided to made a visual representation for you, the avid completist, so that you can keep track.

If you want everything, THIS is what you’ll need to order:

Screenshot

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

Have we forgotten anything?

FYI, the Ringo Starr Choose Love LP announced for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 seems to have quietly slipped off the list again, so we have not included it here.

New Ringo Coloured Vinyl Announced

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As if we didn’t have enough Beatle or Beatle-related product between now and Christmas….

Now comes news that four coloured vinyl LPs from the Ringo Starr camp are due October 24.

They are his first four solo releases, beginning with his solo debut Sentimental Journey, produced by George Martin and originally released in 1970, now on custom “buttermilk yellow” vinyl:

Also from 1970 comes Beaucoups of Blues, back in print on custom “baby blue” vinyl and in a gatefold jacket. Recorded in Nashville and produced by the legendary slide player Pete Drake:

The great Ringo album is pressed on “molten lava” custom vinyl and comes with the original 24-page booklet included in a gatefold jacket. Looks good actually:

And last but not least, Ringo’s fourth studio album Goodnight Vienna. Like the Ringo album this is one of his best, once again collaborating with the greats: John Lennon, Elton John, Dr. John, Billy Preston, Robbie Robertson, Jesse Ed Davis, Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Harry Nilsson. Produced by Richard Perry, the LP features the Lennon penned title track plus other standouts like ‘No-No Song’, ‘Only You (And You Alone)’ and ‘Occapella’. This one is pressed on “psychedelic waves” custom vinyl:

At the moment these appear to be only available vie Ringo’s official store and through official Universal Music stores (for example here’s the US Udiscover Music store). Not sure if they’ll get a wider release.

Record Store Day Black Friday 2025 Titles Announced

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A couple of Beatle-related and Dark Horse Records titles have popped up in the Record Store Day Black Friday release list published overnight.

First up is the next installment in the ongoing George Harrison/Zoetrope disc back-catalogue series, Living In The Material World:

Featuring the 2024 50th anniversary mix of the album, this will come in a numbered sleeve with an insert of the original cover art. Hopefully it will be easier to secure than the Zoetrope edition of All Things Must Pass from Record Store Day earlier this year! It quickly became as rare as hen’s teeth.

Also on Dark Horse is a Billy Idol 12″ single picture disc. It features the track ’77’ which was on his LP Dream Into It from earlier this year. The song is a collaboration with Avril Lavigne, but the version with her has so far only been available as a digital download. She didn’t make the cut for the version on the physical release. Well, now we get both versions on this 2-sided picture. Side 1 features the duet with Lavigne, while Side 2 is the album version.

A third Dark Horse Records title for RSD Black Friday is only appearing (so far) on the UK list. It looks to be a follow-up to last year’s RSD collaboration between Dhani Harrison and Carmen Rizzo. That was called Dreamers In The Field and featured world music artists Huun-Huur-Tu. This time Ivan Shopov is also involved and special guests are the New Bulgarian Voices and composer/choir leader Georgi Petkov. The album is called Ascending Into Silence. Very interesting stuff:

And lastly, there’s also the now almost obligatory RSD Ringo Starr re-issue on coloured vinyl from Friday Music. It’s his Choose Love from 2005 and it is the first time this record has been available on vinyl, so that makes it interesting. It’ll be on ruby red vinyl:

UPDATE: Despite being published on early RSD Black Friday 2025 lists, this Ringo Starr release seems to have quietly slipped off those same lists in recent days. We’ll keep an eye on it to see if it re-appears and will let you know.

National Album Day 2025, Plus More Harrison/Dark Horse

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Apple has announced it will re-issue Badfinger’s Magic Christian Music on a striking blue vinyl as part of National Album Day in the UK.

You might recall last year the theme was ‘Great British Groups’ and The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night was issued on white vinyl to celebrate.

Well, this year the theme is ‘Rock’:

Magic Christian Music is the second album released by Welsh rock band, Badfinger. They recorded 5 albums for Apple Records, and were the first non-Beatle recording artists signed to the label.

This release will be the first time the 2010 remasters of Magic Christian Music are available on vinyl, and the first time the album has been re-pressed since 1996.

Magic Christian Music includes the band’s first international hit, ‘Come And Get It’, written and produced for them by Paul McCartney. Of the fourteen tracks, seven were newly recorded for the album while the remaining songs were lifted from their first album Maybe Tomorrow, which had seen only a limited release. Three of the new tracks were featured in the film The Magic Christian (starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr). They were produced by Paul, and the strings on ‘Carry On Till Tomorrow’ were arranged and conducted by George Martin. SIx tracks were produced by Tony Visconti and five by Mal Evans.

This 180g blue vinyl version, out on October 18, is housed in a single sleeve featuring the original artwork, with poly-lined white inner sleeves.

In other Beatle-related release news, the push by BMG to get more George Harrison/Dark Horse Records titles officially onto their catalogue continues. On October 24 they will release the next batch including the self-titled George Harrison (from early 1979) on both vinyl and CD:

The CD has one bonus track, ‘Here Comes The Moon (Demo)’:

Then in June 1981 came Somewhere In England. It too gets a vinyl and CD re-issue on Dark Horse:

The CD is interesting. It comes in the original album concept artwork and has one bonus track, a demo of ‘Save The World’:

And then comes 1982’s Gone Troppo:

The Gone Troppo CD also comes with a single bonus track, the demo version of ‘Mystical One’:

Also due for an October 24 release are CD versions of Brainwashed; Cloud Nine; and Thirty Three and 1/3. Each of these has already seen a vinyl release under the BMG distribution deal. This just makes a CD version available to collectors:

All CD’s are in Digipak packaging. You can get all the details on all these releases, and place pre-orders, at the Official George Harrison Store.

Interestingly, also listed there (for an October 3 release) is a 3LP set of All Things Must Pass. This too is to bring that classic title in under the BMG/Dark Horse Records banner as a vinyl issue (there’s already been a CD released).

The question is, will it come out with Dark Horse Records labels, or will it be on the traditional orange Apple and Apple Jam labels? The pack shot has a prominent Dark Horse hype sticker (click on the image to see a larger version):

This vinyl is the 50th anniversary mix by Paul Hicks and the set includes the original poster – but with the back of the poster containing notes by Dhani Harrison and Hicks about remixing the album.

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if the LPs have the Dark Horse label. For some reason our money is on Apple labels……look very closely at that hype sticker and you’ll see in the small print the words “Apple and the Apple logo are exclusively licensed to Apple Corps Ltd and used with permission.” So maybe it won’t have Dark Horse labels after all….

New Details Emerge for McCartney’s “High In The Clouds”

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The entertainment bible Variety is reporting that at last there is definite movement on Paul McCartney’s on-again, off-again animated children’s feature film, High In The Clouds.

The magazine says that “Celine Dion, Himesh Patel and Hannah Waddingham will lead the voice cast of High in the Clouds….which [production company] Gaumont (“Ballerina”) is producing and repping internationally.”

“Inspired by the children’s adventure book by Paul McCartney, Geoff Dunbar and Philip Ardagh, High in the Clouds will also bring together Idris Elba, Lionel Richie, Ringo Starr, Jimmy Fallon, Clémence Poésy, Pom Klementieff and Alain Chabat.”

There’ll also be six original songs by McCartney in the film, which – back in 2023 – was budgeted at €28 million (US$31.7 million). It’ll be directed by Toby Genkel (The Amazing Maurice), and will have a screenplay by Jon Croker (Paddington 2), with Patrick Hanenberger (The Croods, Lego Movie 2) as production designer. Paul McCartney will also voice one of the main characters.

And here’s the exciting bit. Oscar winner Michael Giacchino (Ratatouille, Up, Inside Out, Coco) will score the feature with the original soundtrack set to be released by Universal Music Group. So, we’ll be getting at least six new Paul McCartney songs.

The cast and the characters they voice are:

Himesh Patel (Yesterday) as the main character, Wirral
Céline Dion (Academy Award winner for Best Song) as Sugartail
Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) as Gretsch
Paul McCartney as McKenzie
Idris Elba (Luther) as Barrel
Lionel Richie as Gladstone
Ringo Starr as Roy
Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show) as Froggo
Clémence Poésy (Harry Potter) as Doris
Pom Klementieff (Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning) as Mina
Alain Chabat (Night at the Museum) as Bigsby

Two things to note:

You’ll notice on the official poster (above) it says “Coming 2027“, so we’ve still got a while to wait.

Secondly, if you’re wondering about someone who is missing in all this latest reporting on the film, you’re not wrong. When we said this has been an on-again, off-again project across a number of years we weren’t kidding.

Way back in 2015 there were prolific reports on social media showing Paul working with none other than Lady Gaga on one of the key songs for the film. This photo from Instagram dates back to February that year. So, High In The Clouds the movie has been on the boil at least 10 years now. In fact first reports of an animated film based on the book date back to 2013.

This doesn’t mean that Gaga’s contribution has been ditched. She’s just not in a speaking role. Maybe her song will be in the opening and closing credits? Here’s a happy-snap from the same 2015 recording session with Gaga, with Paul and all the musicians in the studio. You can also see Paul’s regular drummer Abe Laborial Jr. at his left shoulder.:

The original book from which the animated film springs goes back even further. It was first published by in 2005.

As is the way with these things ideas, concepts and themes morph. The synopsis of the book now looks distinctly different to that of the film.

Plot of the book (as per the 2005 book cover): “Forced to leave his woodland home, destroyed by the expansion plans of the evil Gretsch, Wirral the squirrel vows to find the fabled land of Animalia, where all the animals are said to live in freedom and without fear. Wirral’s personal quest turns into a full-blown plan to save enslaved animals everywhere.”

Plot of the film (as per the 202 Variety article): “Follows the journey of a headstrong teenage squirrel, Wirral, who lives in Gretschville, a city where music has been banned by a diva-owl, Gretsch, who wants to be the only singer in town. Determined to overthrow Gretsch and bring music back to his town, Wirral joins forces with an underground band of legendary musicians who hide high in the clouds, in a secret place called Harmonia.”

Quite different, don’t you think?

Still, this promises to be a fun watch with a special soundtrack album as an added bonus.

A Beatle Book for the Next Generation of Fans – and a Book Giveaway

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As a first generation Beatle fan who fell hook, line and sinker for the band when they took Australia by storm back in 1964, it constantly amazes how subsequent generations come to hear about and love their music – over and over again.

Just take a look at faces in the crowd at any of Paul McCartney’s 2024 Got Back tour dates. Yes, you’ll see a fair smattering of grey hair in there, but his audiences around the world are a true cross-section of the ages – from the Builders and Baby Boomers, to Gen Z and now Gen Alpha.

And here’s a new Beatle book (released today, 6 May) aimed directly at the youngest of those Gen Alpha’s.

It’s called We Are The Beatles, by New York Times best-selling author Brad Meltzer, with illustrations by Christopher Eliopoulos.

We Are the Beatles is the latest in Meltzer’s Ordinary People Change the World series of kids books where historic heroes come to life to inspire young readers to greatness themselves.

Born out of a desire to give his own kids real people to look up to, Meltzer’s books highlight notable figures from around the world. These have included people like Walt Disney, Dolly Parton, Frida Kahlo, Gandhi, Anne Frank, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, and many others. By showing what each of these inspiring people were like as children, and exploring who they grew up to be gives kids to opportunity to emulate the traits that made them great – and to realize their own huge potential.

Now it’s the turn of John, Paul, George and Ringo to again inspire a new generation. It’s the first time in this long-running book series (there are 36 titles in all, so far) that a group has been highlighted rather than a single person.

Meltzer and Eliopoulos pack a lot of accurate detail into this little book, and their story of four ordinary kids from Liverpool who loved music, who became the best of friends, and who grew up to become the most famous band in the world, is told with whimsy and a beautiful eye for detail.

Text copyright © 2025 by Forty-four Steps, Inc.Illustrations copyright © 2025 by Christopher Eliopoulost

We Are The Beatles begins by taking us through the four individual Beatle childhoods, how they found their instruments and each other, shared a love of music, practiced, practiced, practiced, get their break into the business, and the familiar tale of success heaped upon success worldwide. The message is “Whatever your dream is, keep chasing it!” and “The best music is the music you make together. And the essential message will never change: Love. It really is all you need.”

Meltzer has really done his research as the list of his impeccable sources at that back of the book reveals: The Beatles Anthology by The Beatles; Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, by Mark Lewisohn; Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now by Barry Miles; Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress by Michael Braun; John Lennon: The Life by Philip Norman; The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story by Vivek J. Tiwary; and The Beatles: Get Back documentary, directed and produced by Peter Jackson.

He’s even included a handy further reading and viewing for kids list: Who Were The Beatles? by Geoff Edgers; What Is Rock and Roll? by Jim O’Connor; Imagine by John Lennon and illustrated by Jean Jullien; and the Yellow Submarine movie, directed by George Dunning.

I can imagine reading this book to my own grandchildren (aged 7 and 4). And then we’d listen to some Beatles tracks together. Such is the power of the music these four young men made. It can still capture new young audiences as the years roll by.

We Are The Beatles is published by Rocky Pond Books, a division of Penguin Books. Get your copy here. Here’s to the next generation of fans!

BOOK GIVEAWAY COMPETITION (open to our U.S. readers only)

With thanks to Penguin Books we have four copies of Brad Meltzer’s We Are The Beatles to give away to four of our U.S. readers.

All you need to do is provide us your name and email address below, and then have a go at answering three easy Beatle-related questions. Good luck!

Please note that due to the high cost of shipping this competition is open only to residents of the United States.

Beatle Books, Books, Books!

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Lots of Beatle book news around at the moment. We’re a little slow getting to this one, but Paul McCartney has flagged a big Wings book retrospective due later this year – November 4 to be precise. It’s called Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run.

Clearly this is still a work very much in production but the book promises over 100 black and white and colour photographs, many previously unseen, and will draw on over 500,000 words and dozens of hours of interviews with McCartney and numerous key players in and around the band. Most probably it is designed to tie in with Morgan Neville’s forthcoming documentary film Man on the Run, which will also tell the story of McCartney’s life following the breakup of The Beatles and the formation of Wings. That film (due later this year or early next) is also based on access to never-before-seen archives of Paul and Linda’s home videos and photos, as well as new interviews. (See The Paul McCartney Project for more on this).

Then, just this week, The Beatles Anthology (25th Anniversary) re-issue has quietly been announced.

25th anniversary? Didn’t The Beatles Anthology documentary series, CD’s and vinyl begin to come out back in 1995? Shouldn’t it be the 30th anniversary? Well no, not for the book which was first published as a hardback in the year 2000. This time it’s paperback only. Fans are already asking if the release might be associated with some sort of The Beatles Anthology CD/vinyl re-issue too? Or maybe the documentary series has been refreshed as is slated for streaming? Or re-issue on DVD or Blu-Ray. We don’t know as yet…..

And here’s another book we’ve been reading. We flagged this when it first hit the shelves in December last year, but have not yet reviewed it as it contains so much information! Luca Perasi has followed up his Paul McCartney Music Is Ideas The Stories Behind the Songs (Volume 1) 1970-1989 with a second installment – this time covering off the years 1990-2012.

Rather than being a biography, with each release this series is growing as the go-to reference place for detailed information on each and every Wings or solo Paul McCartney album or individual song. This second volume covers off a further 250 entries, including 26 previously unreleased songs. It is packed with technical info on the recordings, personnel and who-played-what, anecdotes and the background to how each song and album came about.

The book kicks off in 1990 with the triple LP live album Tripping the Live Fantastic, the record that launched McCartney into the Nineties, and ends with Complete Kisses, another foray into performing live – but this time a live streamed concert he gave in support of his jazz-influenced album Kisses on the Bottom from 2012. In between there is a wealth of information on Paul’s solo studio albums over this period, but also some much-needed analysis and detail on his many classical, operatic and experimental outings from the time – like his Liverpool Oratorio with Carl Davis, Standing Stone, Ecce Cor Meum, his Ocean’s Kingdom ballet music, plus Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest where he appears for the first time with collaborator Youth under the nom de plume, The Fireman. There’s also a chapter on the very experimental Liverpool Sound Collage with the Super Furry Animals, and another musical style departure called Twin Freaks, under yet another pseudonym, Twin Freaks. To date very little has been written about these eclectic but fascinating additions to his canon, so this book is immediately a very welcome research window into some of McCartney’s more obscure yet interesting musical moments. Bravo!

For how Perasi constructs each entry in the book see our review of Volume 1 because the same format is used here. As for information on what is coming next, Perasi says there will be a Volume 3 starting at 2013 with the album New and moving forward, then a Volume 4 looking at Paul McCartney’s many collaborations and appearances on other people’s records (fascinating!), and then a Volume 0 is promised as a mystery surprise finale. As to just what this contains we’ll have to wait and see.

For information on how to get hold of this essential book go to www.mccartney-musicisideas.it

Well, Luca Perasi is nothing if not prolific because today he’s announced yet another new book called Ringo Starr: I Play the Piano If It’s in C. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1997.

As the title suggests, this covers the first twenty-eight years of Ringo Starr’s solo career. Luca says, “The book is the first ever to explore in such depth Ringo’s post-Beatles production, from Sentimental Journey until his All-Starr Band tour in 1997.”

“The title recalls a verse from his song ‘Early 1970’ and is a half-joking reference to the fact that Ringo is not really a composer but is still capable of producing great music. He’s been defined as a drummer who plays melodically, as a guitarist, and it’s time to explore his production historically and critically.”

Like the McCartney volumes, this book tells the stories behind 157 of Ringo’s songs released between 1970 and 1997 – including songs written by other composers plus 23 unreleased tracks – each with detailed information on musicians and recording dates, anecdotes and contemporary interviews.

“During the period under consideration, Ringo goes through different phases of his career; he starts as an outsider, but he manages to achieve great success until 1974, first with the two singles ‘It Don’t Come Easy’ and ‘Back off Boogaloo’, and then with the albums Ringo and Goodnight Vienna,” explains Perasi. “During the second half of the seventies, he became increasingly marginalised in the music business, and the eighties opened amidst a thousand difficulties, with Ringo failing to revive his career through the project of an album in Memphis and his alcohol addiction.”

Out now, Ringo Starr: I Play the Piano If It’s in C. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1997 is available worldwide from Amazon in both hardcover and paperback. For the USA click here, and the UK click here.

A Volume 2 will follow in 2026. See what I mean about prolific?

New (Old) Ringo Starr Live Album to be Re-Issued

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The folks at Friday Music have just announced two coloured, limited edition vinyl editions of a 2007 Ringo Starr title, Live At Soundstage.

One is on burgundy swirl vinyl:

The other is on gold metalic:

It’s the first time this live performance has been on vinyl. It was originally a CD-only release which came out in 2007.

Recorded in 2005 for a televised Live At Soundstage concert held at the beautiful old Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois, it features Ringo with his band The Roundheads – Greg Bissonette, Matt Bissonette, Gary Burr, Steve Dudas, Mark Hart & Mark Hudson.

The band work their way through some great tracks including ‘It Don’t Come Easy’, ‘Photograph’, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘Don’t Pass Me By’, ‘Back Off Boogaloo’ and this one, ‘Octopus’s Garden’:

The venue looks amazing, Ringo is clearly in fine voice, and the band is tight:

The records come in a gatefold sleeve and both are available for pre-order now. They’ll ship in Spring. The burgundy swirl LP is here, and the gold metalic is here.

Just a word of warning though. There’s not a lot of love for Friday Music pressings (or engineer Joe Reagoso’s mastering – which these are) on Discogs. See the Comments section of Discogs on the label page.

Ringo’s ‘Look Up’ Country Album Due in January

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Ringo Starr has released the first teaser song from his forthcoming country album, Look Up:

Here’s the track list for the album, due to be released on January 10, 2025 on vinyl, CD and digital download:

  1. Breathless (feat. Billy Strings)
  2. Look Up (feat. Molly Tuttle)
  3. Time On My Hands
  4. Never Let Me Go (feat. Billy Strings)
  5. I Live For Your Love (feat. Molly Tuttle)
  6. Come Back (feat. Lucius)
  7. Can You Hear Me Call (feat. Molly Tuttle)
  8. Rosetta (feat. Billy Strings & Larkin Poe)
  9. You Want Some
  10. String Theory (feat. Molly Tuttle & Larkin Poe)
  11. Thankful (feat. Alison Krauss)

As you can see, along with producer T Bone Burnett, there are some heavy hitters helping out including Alison Krauss, Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle.

Variety has just published this in-depth article with a very recent interview with Ringo, and contributions from T Bone Burnett. Well worth a read.

And the online magazine JamBase is running this article with information about the background to Look Up as well:

Billy Strings is not only a star who can fill massive arenas with his band but has also become an in-demand studio musician. For example, Beatles legend Ringo Starr and fellow music icon T Bone Burnett called upon Strings to contribute to Starr’s forthcoming country album.

While Starr hasn’t officially announced Look Up, Ringo spoke about the album with Fox News Digital in July. “I met him [when] Olivia Harrison was reading poems for George. There was about 100 of us there listening, and he was one of them, and I bumped into him [off and on] since the ’70s,” Starr said of Burnett.

“He said, ‘What are you doing? I said, ‘Oh, well I’m doing this, EPs [extended play albums, which have more tracks than a single, but less than a record]. I’m getting people to write a song, put some music on it,” the Beatles legend continued. While Ringo Starr had several pop songs written for the project, he thought Burnett’s tune was “absolutely one of the most beautiful country songs I ever heard. So, I thought, ‘I’m going to do a country EP.’”

When Ringo talked to Burnett about cutting additional tracks, T Bone explained he had nine songs ready to go. “I thought let’s make a real CD, so I’m back making a CD,” Starr said about the decision to turn the EP into an LP.

In May, T Bone Burnett revealed he was working on a country album with Starr while speaking to Variety. Burnett had high praise for Ringo. “He’s such a beautiful singer. Ringo was in a band with two of the best singers in rock ‘n’ roll history, so people never took him as seriously as a singer as they should. If you listen to all the country stuff he did, ‘What Goes On’ and ‘Act Naturally’ and ‘Honey Don’t,’ he did so much great country music, even in the Beatles. And, you know, he’s called Ringo Starr because that’s a cowboy name, and he wanted to be a cowboy when he was a kid. As we all did back in those days; we always all wanted to be Gene Autry.”

Starr’s first solo foray with country was Beaucoup of Blues, an album of country covers he recorded in Nashville in 1970. “Yeah, it’s pretty good. I mean, they whipped it out really quickly; I think they did it in two days or so,” Burnett said of Beaucoup of Blues. “And we’re gonna do something a little more thorough. I mean, Ringo in his third act is deserving of a serious album… I want to make a classic Ringo Starr country record. I think we can,” T Bone added.

Ringo initially planned to put out the country album this fall as per his May chat with Variety. Starr gave a status report to the outlet. “We’ve done 90% of my work. He (Burnett) may want to put other stuff on it. And tomorrow I’m gonna finish off the odd lines I have to re-sing or think about, and then it should be done. As far as I’m concerned, the drums are good and the songs are good and, you know, I sing to the best of my ability, but sometimes I change the melody. That’s the way I am, and I had to back off a bit and do his melody, because he wrote it. So that’s what happened. It just came about and we’re just going with the flow. And now we’ve got a country record. The last country LP was… was it 1970? [Beacoups of Blues]. And now we’ve got one coming out probably in October. Because it’ll be coming out on vinyl and on CD, you’ve gotta get it in, and now it’s like five or six months before you put anything out. I mean, I’d like to finish it here and put it on the radio right now, but you can’t do that anymore.”

The first exclusive is the LP version of the album (available now for preorder) on opaque white vinyl from Ringo’s official site.

Ringo has also announced he’ll be supporting the new country album with two performances at the fabled Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. The shows will be filmed for a special. Check out the Ryman page for more.

And here’s the second teaser song, a co-write by Ringo and long-time collaborator Bruce Sugar. It features the great Alison Krauss on back-up vocals: