(January 31, 2025 – Nashville, TN) Ringo Starr has released a brand-new country music album, Look Up, produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett and released on January 10, 2025. This stunning collection features 11 original songs, recorded last year in Nashville and Los Angeles. The track “Time On My Hands” is also available to stream, but real story here is Beatle-sizes by our Super Fan Dr. Jennifer Sandi.

It was an exciting January in Nashville, Tennessee as Ringo was in town to promote his new country album Look Up. The buzz started for me when I had a chance to enter a contest to attend a town hall with Ringo and T-Bone Burnett at the local Sirius XM studios. Unfortunately two things stopped me: having to go to work and a snowstorm.  It was funny that when they produced the town hall broadcast, the guests picked ended up Zooming in anyway because of the weather. The town of Nashville seemingly stops when it snows.

I personally was thankful that everything cleared out for the big week of Ringo playing two special concerts at The Ryman Auditorium. It was kind of a big deal, Ringo was even on the cover of our local Nashville Scene magazine. Concert day was full of surprises. TV and online outlets announced that Ringo would be donating proceeds of the concert venture to the California wildfire victims. At the time of the performances it was quite possible those fires weren’t that far from Ringo’s own home in the Los Angeles area. Another big surprise was that CBS would be taping and showing the concert on TV in the spring.

Standing in downtown Nashville well before show time, I scouted out The Ryman grounds. I saw the video truck and a big tour bus, but I knew better that the stars would come in the back door. I didn’t stand out in the cold to keep lookout. I made my way around Nashville Predators fans (there was a hockey game going on too) and was back ninety minutes before opening of the doors at The Ryman. There were a few folks starting to gather. I took a quick look around The Ryman shop. They had Ringo’s new country album proudly displayed in the front of the store. As I headed back outside and got into line, it was fun to talk to fans. I kept my eyes peeled for familiar faces. Ringo’s name was shown on the marquis as the sun went down. I saw Mark and Carol Lapidos from The Fest for Beatles Fans. It was interesting to hear that Mark had never been to Nashville and this was his first time at The Ryman. Time went fast and we were soon on our way in. I got a Ringo concert t-shirt with The Ryman dates on the back (it said “2024 Tour” but the dates were 2025 – oops). I turned around to see Gary Astridge, Ringo’s drum curator, taking pictures of folks in front of the large metallic Ringo peace hand display. I didn’t miss the photo-op either. It was then on to my 8th row aisle seat.

Ringo had his artwork set up and there was a beautiful drum head with his picture in a cowboy hat plus an autograph for $900. I eyeballed Ringo’s music gear storage trunks while walking into the auditorium. The stage set up was awesome, having two large screens over the performers. As I looked around by my seat, I found I had a good view of the teleprompter which would give me an idea of what was coming up. Little children dressed in Sgt. Pepper gear walked by. What a night it would be for them. Ringo’s long-time musical director Mark Rivera walked across the stage as I yelled a “hello” to him, and he reciprocated. I spotted Sirius XM’s Tom Frangione just before the show started and had the opportunity to greet. At approximately 7:45 PM, it was show time. The band took their places, many of whom I didn’t recognize, but there was one: Jim Keltner was playing drums! It was so exciting to see a performer I heard so much about, but never saw play live before. He was incredible. Ringo plowed into “Matchbox”, as he usually does with his All-Starr shows, but it was quickly evident that this wouldn’t be the same show I’ve seen many times.

Country stars started coming in from the wings in a number I couldn’t keep up with. There were many I did not know, but a nice man sitting next to me tried to fill me in. “It Don’t Come Easy” had Ringo singing with 3 other country stars – Mickey Guyton, Sheryl Crow and Molly Tuttle (who was on Ringo’s new album). The video screens showed black and white images that were awesome. Then the moment had come, Ringo went out of his All-Starr “comfort zone” and sang a new song off the country album called “Time on My Hands”. He swayed back and forth as he always did as everyone sat down. By the end of the song, I could only see Tom Frangione and I giving Ringo a standing ovation. It was monumental to hear Ringo do a song outside of his usual “All-Starr” set. It didn’t take me long to figure out the drill. The show presented itself with the country artists singing quite a few “covers” of Ringo songs. Molly Tuttle took the stage and sang “Octopus’s Garden” ala country on her own. Country star Jack White got a big applause as he did “Don’t Pass Me By”.  Ringo came back on stage to belt out another song from his new album, almost sounding apologetic, “This is what we are here for.”  The true-blue Ringo fans gave a big cheer again as he sang the song “Thankful” live for the first time. Ringo vacated again as I almost felt like I was at the Grand Ole Opry (maybe that was the idea). Billy Strings performed “Honey Don’t” with some fancy guitar playing. What could be next I wondered as I sat on the edge of my seat (literally, those pews are so small at The Ryman). A couple called The War and Treaty took the stage to vocalize the most unusual version of “Without Her” I ever heard. Did anyone in the audience even recognize Ringo did that song on his 1970 Beaucoups of Blues country album? I secretly wished it was Ringo singing it, however it was a powerful performance and the couple got a standing ovation. The next song was a Beatles treat, and one Ringo didn’t sing anyway so I was delighted to hear Molly Tuttle and Sheryl Crow sing “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”.  Molly and Sheryl remained on stage as they were joined by girl duo Larkin Poe.

As the ladies lined the front of the stage, Ringo came out and got behind his Ludwig drum kit. The crowd cheered! Ringo busted into “Boys” with the girls singing “bop shoo wop”. It was reminiscent of the original Shirelles version in a country sort of way. There was an intermission after that tune. It was a good time for me to see other fans. I saw Tom Frangione talking to none other than All-Starr drummer Gregg Bissonette! I said to Gregg, “Why aren’t you up there?” Gregg probably wanted to be as I saw him in the crowd later air drumming as Ringo looked directly at him during a song. It was so exciting moving through the crowd seeing a bunch of smiling faces. I happened to be in the right place in my walk when T-Bone Burnett came to the stage to get folks ready for the second half. I yelled to T-Bone, “I love the new album!” He looked down at me and said, “I really like it too.”  In opening the second half, T-Bone acted like the emcee at the Grand Ole Opry (without commercials) as he introduced Jamey Johnson to sing an almost haunting version of Ringo’s “Have You Seen My Baby”. Again I wished it was Ringo singing!! I did have to admit that all the performers were very good. Next up was another Ringo blast from the past that was not sung by him. T-Bone introduced Mickey Guyton, citing the song he would sing was off  Ringo’s “Rot – to -grav-ure” album (Don’t worry T-Bone, I’m not sure any of us know how to pronounce that album name.) The song was “You Don’t Know Me at All”, one of my favorite Ringo songs. Rodney Crowell (I recognized the name as Ringo was on one of his albums) and Sarah Jarosz duoed on “Act Naturally” which was a crowd pleaser. I had to smile as Rodney introduced the song by saying his favorite Ringo acting roles were in A Hard Day’s Night and The Magic Christian. Larkin Poe spiced up “I Wanna Be Your Man” with a mandolin and dobro. They even joked a little with technical difficulties. Ringo appeared again and was up on the drums while Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle sang “What Goes On”. This time, I kept my eye on Ringo as the duo performed and could see he was actually mouthing the words to his own song. It was time for Ringo to come to the front again to perform his third and final song off the new country album. Molly Tuttle was there to help him sing “Look Up”. That is my favorite song from the new release at this point. Poor Ringo, he got through the first verse and abruptly stopped. It looked like he was not too comfortable with the new songs yet as he usually did not sing any newly recorded material at All-Starr shows. Ringo got it together and started again, this time pulling it off. The crowd gave a cheer of support (I guess that version won’t be broadcast on CBS). Going into the home stretch, Ringo was supported through a countrified version of “Photograph”. Ringo took a bow and moved off the stage. After a brief hiatus, legendary country artist Emmylou Harris walked to the center of the stage and gave Ringo an applause-building country introduction. I figured this was for the television special . We cheered Ringo as he came back to the stage. Emmylou decided to put Ringo on the spot and asked if he would come join the Grand Ole Opry onstage in February. Ringo said “Yes”!  The Tennessean newspaper had subsequently confirmed Ringo with be at the Grand Ole Opry on February 21^st. Country artists joined in on stage, with a few new faces I did not recognize except for Brenda Lee, one of the oldest performers of the evening (except for Ringo that is). They all joined in with the crowd for “Yellow Submarine”, definitely a time for audience participation (I saw the cameras floating around – maybe I’ll be on TV!) And then there was a big finale with a song we all could have guessed, “With a Little Help From My Friends” with the entire cast of musicians singing. The audience joined in too of course. Post concert news announced these last 2 songs of the evening are being  imminently released to benefit the California wildfire victims. At the finish, bows and a musician “group photo” was taken. The last thing I saw was Ringo and T-Bone giving each other a big hug. What a night! The concert was in the books, with another show the following night that I was told by a friend who went to both shows was pretty identical. I floated out of The Ryman and had one more cool moment while walking down the Nashville sidewalk. Folks gathered behind The Ryman and I saw the big, black SUV. I knew what that meant. I saw Ringo get in the back seat. I maneuvered to the side of the alley he was on and got to wave goodbye as the vehicle pulled out! I could see the shadow of his wave with I’m sure a big smile. Getting back behind the wheel of my own car for a short ride home, I did have to contend with Nashille Predators fans’ traffic but at least the home team won, and I sure felt like a winner being part of this historical evening

ORDER LOOK UP | HERE

LISTEN TO “TIME ON MY HANDS” | HERE