It seems like everybody is making country music these days. Now, the legendary former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, who turned 84 on Sunday, has revealed that he too is working on a country music album. He added that he was inspired to take this on by a country music legend.
Starr Working On Country Music Album
Starr opened up about this shocking genre shift while attending Ringo’s Annual Peace & Love Birthday Celebration at Beverly Hills Garden Park earlier this week. There, he credited the Grammy-winning country music legend T Bone Burnett with inspiring him to go country.
“I met him [when] Olivia Harrison was reading poems for George,” Starr told Fox News of Burnett. “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.”
“He said, ‘What are you doing? I said, ‘Oh, well I’m doing this, EPs. I’m getting people to write a song, put some music on it.”
Starr has written many pop songs over the years. However, he found that Burnett’s song was “absolutely one of the most beautiful country songs I ever heard. So, I thought, ‘I’m going to do a country EP.’”
However, when Starr talked to Burnett, he learned that he actually had nine songs, enough for an LP.
“I thought let’s make a real CD, so I’m back making a CD,” Star explained.
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Burnett Praises Starr
As for Burnett, he had nothing but praise for Starr in an interview back in May.
“He’s such a beautiful singer,” Burnett, 76, told Variety. “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.”
Burnett went on to point out that this actually won’t be Starr’s first foray into the world of country music. In 1970, Starr released his second solo album, “Beaucoups of Blues,” which was full of country and western influences.
“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,” he continued. “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.”
Burnett went on to express his confidence in Starr’s ability to go country again.
“I mean, Ringo in his third act is deserving of a serious album,” he concluded, explaining that he wants “to make a classic Ringo Starr country record. I think we can.”
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Starr Is ‘Fit As A Fiddle’
Working on a new album is hard work. However, despite bing in his mid-80s, Starr believes he’s more than up to the task.
“I’m fit as a fiddle and doing good,” he said this week. “I work out nearly every day.”
Starr is also still performing. He’s preparing to hit the road again with his All-Starr Band, with dates going into the fall across the U.S.
Starr is one of the legendary performers of all time. While it’s surprising to hear that he’s going country, we can’t wait to hear his country music album when it comes out!
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