Ringo Starr has announced the release of a brand-new country music album, “Look Up”, produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett, on 10th January 2025. The collection features 11 original songs, recorded this year in Nashville and Los Angeles.
Nine of the 11 songs on “Look Up” were written or co-written by Burnett, one by Billy Swan and the other co-written by Starr and Bruce Sugar. Starr sang and played drums on all the songs and co-wrote the album’s closer ‘Thankful’. Burnett enlisted some of americana’s finest, including Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius, Molly Tuttle and Alison Krauss.
Starr’s lifelong love of country music has been apparent and celebrated throughout his illustrious career. The artist’s new album comes after a chance meeting with Burnett at an event in Los Angeles in 2022 where Starr asked Burnett to write a song for an EP he was recording. Burnett returned with nine songs, all in a country vein, which put Starr on a path to record “Look Up”, his first full-length album since 2019.
“I’ve always loved country music. And when I asked T Bone to write me a song, I didn’t even think at the time that it would be a country song – but of course it was, and it was so beautiful.” Ringo recalls.
“I have loved Ringo Starr and his playing and his singing and his aesthetic for as long as I can (or care to) remember,” says Burnett. “He changed the way every drummer after him played, with his inventive approach to the instrument. And, he has always sung killer rockabilly, as well as being a heart-breaking ballad singer. 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.” You can pre-save / pre-order at this link.
The track list for “Look Up”, with guest listed, is:
Breathless (featuring Billy Strings)
Look Up (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Time On My Hands
Never Let Me Go (featuring Billy Strings)
Live For Your Love (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Come Back (featuring Lucius)
Can You Hear Me Call (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Rosetta (featuring Billy Strings and Larkin Poe)
You Want Some
String Theory (featuring Molly Tuttle)
Thankful (featuring Alison Krauss)
The album’s first single, ‘Time On My Hands’ written by Paul Kennerly, Daniel Tashian (who is a co-producer on the album along with Sugar) and Burnett, has been released along with a lyric video.
