Ringo Starr released his new country album, Look Up. The album was produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett. It is Starr’s first country album in more than 50 years and his first full-length album since 2019.
Recorded last year in Nashville and Los Angeles, Look Up features 11 songs and nine were written or co-written by Burnett. Starr sang and played drums on all the songs and co-wrote the album’s closer, “Thankful,” featuring Alison Krauss. Burnett enlisted some of Nashville’s finest and hottest talent for the record, including Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius, Molly Tuttle and the aforementioned Krauss. Acclaimed musicians Dennis Crouch, Paul Franklin, Daniel Tashian, Joe Walsh and more also played on the album.
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A video for the title track was also released. It features Starr singing in the sunshine interwoven with images of people from all walks of life gathering in a field and ultimately, as seen in shots from above, forming a human peace sign. Director Wyndham Garnett was inspired by the song’s prescient lyrics and Starr’s dedication to spreading peace and love: “No matter where you place/In the human race/There is mercy/There is grace/Look Up
Up above your head/Where the music plays/There’s a light that shines/In the darkest days/Look up//Live to fight another day/Good things are gonna come your way.” The video abounds with positivity, and stands as a beacon of hope as we head into this New Year.
Starr’s lifelong love of country music has been apparent and celebrated throughout his illustrious career. He performed and wrote numerous country and country-tinged songs throughout his years with The Beatles (i.e. “Act Naturally,” “What Goes On,” “Don’t Pass Me By”) as well as with the earlier Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, and recorded a country album, Beaucoups of Blues, in 1970 as his second solo album. His love of Country and the Blues led him to try and emigrate from London to Texas while still a teen, after reading that Lightnin’ Hopkins lived in Houston.
The artist’s new album comes after a chance meeting with Burnett at an event in Los Angeles in 2022 (the two had first met in the 1970s), where Starr asked Burnett to write a song for an EP he was recording. Taking the task to heart, Burnett returned with nine songs, all in a country vein, which happily put Starr on a path to record Look Up.
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