Richard Starkey, better known to the world as Ringo Starr, has just had his first number one solo album. He achieved that feat at the age of 84. From this fan of western movies and country music since he was a boy in the Wirral in Liverpool in the North of England way, the music on this smash hit album feels like a horse’s saddle that has been lovingly broken in over a lifetime of dusty rides over oft-trodden trails.
This is not just a collection of well-worn country classics played by anonymous Nashville studio veterans. This well-conceived project was helmed by producer T-Bone Burnett. For decades, Burnett has had an uncanny knack for producing roots music recordings that retain the authenticity of the genre (or genres) in which the artists he produces are working, while capturing a modern edge with freshness and simplicity.
Those recordings and this one are not over-produced saccharine country or today’s bombastic pop country committee creations. First of all, Burnett chose a small cast of roots players to provide a stripped-down welcoming base for Starr to show off his country vocal chops. The songs are heartfelt and fun, and Starr knows just how to sing them with his hang-dog plaintive croon. While the musical backing and songs are just right, it’s the way Starr duets with the various vocalists on this album that makes it more than just a collection of country songs.
The opening track kicks things off with the very accessible “Breathless” featuring the popular Billy Strings, but the tracks that really work the best are his duets with Alison Krauss on “Thankful,” and especially with the duo Lucius on “Come Back,” as well as the two tracks that include Larkin Poe, “Rosetta” (which also includes Strings) and “String Theory” (which also includes Molly Tuttle). Though Krauss has been around for years and has worked similar magic with her albums and tours with Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, it’s the newer young roots artists here that help Starr create something vibrant and new.
It’s the quality of this album that has propelled it to number one. Starr has made music in the past with a country or related sound. Even back with The Beatles, he recorded convincing covers of such roots music classics as “Honey Don’t,” “Act Naturally,” and “Matchbox.” His second solo album Beaucoups of Blues, released in 1970, was a country and western album recorded in Nashville that utilized various contemporary country artists of the day, primarily Chuck Howard and Sorrells Pickard.
Like Look Up, the album had a perfect base for Starr to sing a music he loved. Just the right players and songs Starr seemed meant for, made for a delightful album. Unfortunately, fans of Starr were hoping for a more Beatles-like release and the album did not receive the due it so rightly deserved. The album was reissued on CD in 2006, but never on vinyl. Now is the perfect time for the album to be reissued on vinyl, using the original master tapes, bespoke packaging, and updated liner notes.
The best way to listen to this album is on vinyl. That edition features a beautiful gatefold package that comes with an insert and an oversized, 36-inch square, two-sided poster.
Starr did not make this album to cash in on country’s popularity or to follow in the footsteps of others who stepped outside their genre’s comfort zone to go country, like Beyonce. He made this album because he has always loved the music and has a strong instinctual affinity for it. And, as always with the case with The Beatles, whether collectively or solo, they always surround themselves with the best people. As great a career as Starr has had, things are really looking up with this new album.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B+
