SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Ringo Starr is best remembered as the drummer of The Beatles, always funny with a great one-liner, maybe not necessarily the leading artist or visionary in the band, though he had his moments in the sun...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OCTOPUS' GARDEN")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) I'd like to be under the sea, in an octopus' garden in the shade.
DETROW: ...Including one of The Beatles' most beloved songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YELLOW SUBMARINE")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) In the town where I was born...
DETROW: Ringo even dabbled as a country music crooner on what's known as "The White Album."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DON'T PASS ME BY")
THE BEATLES: (Singing) Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue.
DETROW: All pretty convincing for a guy from Liverpool. And now, more than six decades after The Beatles launched themselves into global superstardom, Ringo has a new country music album out called "Look Up."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOOK UP")
RINGO STARR AND MOLLY TUTTLE: (Singing) Keep your eyes on the skies. Don't look down on the shadow town. Look up.
DETROW: Here to tell us all about it is Marcus Dowling, country music reporter for The Tennessean in Nashville. Marcus, always good to talk to you.
MARCUS DOWLING: Hi. It's a pleasure to talk to you as well. I'm excited about this.
DETROW: It's been out for a couple days. You've had a listen. What do you think?
DOWLING: Multiple listens, I got it beforehand. You know, it's a wonderful record. I had a pleasure listening to it. Ringo is one of those artists who - he's been doing this for six decades. The thing that people forget is that for 35 years of his career, he's had Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, so he's a master collaborator and really understands...
DETROW: Yeah.
DOWLING: ...You know, how to pull the best out of everyone.
DETROW: A lot of collaborations on this album - what jumped out to you?
DOWLING: Oh, gosh. Well, I like the inclusion of so much of what's happening in Nashville right now. Even outside of, like, the mainstream, contemporary, country thing that's blowing up the Billboard charts, you have this Americana scene that's really exciting right now. So you have Larkin Poe, you have Billy Strings, you have an icon in that space like Alison Krauss. So you have these artists who are vibrant and vital to kind of, like, the underpinning of everything that's happening in Nashville, who are all on this record.
DETROW: This is interesting. I feel like there probably were some listeners who hear Ringo and country album, and they think - everybody and their mom has a country album. Ringo has one, too? But you're saying, like, no, this holds up. This is good. This has a through line.
DOWLING: Yeah, so one of the fascinating things about this album, too, is that T Bone Burnett, who most people know from being the creator behind the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and also working with the soundtrack for "Walk The Line," the Johnny Cash biopic - Ringo has an idea of what country music is.
DETROW: Yeah.
DOWLING: T Bone Burnett is probably one of the preeminent masters of the roots of American popular music writ large. So you put those two people together, you're certain to have something that is going to work, for sure.
DETROW: We heard a little bit of the title track at the beginning of the segment. Are there any other tracks that jumped out to you? What do you want to tell us about them?
DOWLING: Yeah, for sure. I could talk about this record all day long (laughter).
DETROW: You really liked it.
DOWLING: I'd say that - yeah, I'd say that "Thankful" and "Never Let Me Go" are great records, too, on here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NEVER LET ME GO")
RINGO STARR AND BILLY STRINGS: (Singing) Never let me go. Never let me go.
DOWLING: One of the things that stands out to me is that you have literal Hall of Fame players on this album. We have Paul Franklin, who's a steel guitarist who - he plays the pedal steel. He's wonderful, and he's on this album. And Billy Strings is playing on this record. Molly Tuttle, who's a Grammy Award-winning bluegrass performer, is on this record. So it's just this cool thing of, like, you listen to these songs, and you're getting these artists who are timeless almost for multiple generations in collaboration. It's really wonderful.
DETROW: You know, I mentioned at the top that, like, it's kind of been this decades-long fad to kind of knock Ringo a little bit, due to the fact that he was surrounded by all these musical geniuses. But you're pointing out he had that long career with his All-Starr Band. He's been kicking out albums throughout the years. What do you think his secret sauce is? Is it that fact that he could just collaborate with anybody?
DOWLING: It's fundamental part of his understanding of popular music is coming from the culture of the virtuoso players, you know, being spotlighted and also in communication with each other - you know, creating these songs that, you know, feel like if you're coming to this brand new, like, if you're listening to, you know, roots-based American music, you're like, these songs are all great.
DETROW: That is Marcus Dowling, the country music reporter for The Tennessean, talking to us about Ringo Starr's new album, "Look Up." Thank you so much.
DOWLING: You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF RINGO STARR SONG, "TIME ON MY HANDS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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