Ringo Starr Brings Out More Stars for Epic Nashville Shows: 'The Coolest Man'

Mar. 15, 2025

Ringo Starr performs at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.Photo:Philip Macias

Philip Macias

Ringo Starrbrought his lifelong country vibe to – where else – Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for two sold-out shows this week, but even more, both nights were simply a celebration of the 84-year-old rock legend and his joy-making career as theBeatlesdrummer and beyond.

AsEmmylou Harrissaid near the end of the second evening: “Is he not the coolest man on the planet?”

Harris was among the battalion of Nashville’s best and brightest who were irresistibly attracted to that coolness, filling out the bill for “Ringo & Friends at the Ryman.” Filmed Tuesday and Wednesday night at the historic venue, it will be edited for a two-hour special this spring on CBS and Paramount+.

Ringo Starr at the Ryman Auditorium.Philip Macias

Burnett served as the show’s emcee, and he’s also the one who can be credited with Starr’s latest deep dive into country,Look Up.The 11-track album, released earlier this month, is the artist’s first in five years.

Ringo Starr’s Look Up.Courtesy UMG Nashville

Courtesy UMG Nashville

During the news conference, Starr told how the album was born in late 2022 when he ran into Burnett at an LA event and asked him to contribute a song to a pop-rock project he was working on at the time.

“And he sent me the most beautiful country track I’ve heard in many years — sort of ’50s country,” Starr recalled.

In a matter of weeks, Burnett wrote or co-wrote eight more country songs. “Once I started,” he said during the joint news conference, “I couldn’t stop.”

After Starr heard those, he shelved the pop-rock project. “I said, ‘Let’s make an album,’” Starr recalled. “That’s how it all happened. There was no real plan. It was just bumping into each other, and it ended up here.”

Ringo Starr and T Bone Burnett at the Ryman Auditorium.Philip Macias

At the news conference, Starr also chronicled his lifelong love affair with country, starting with the foundational music of Hank Williams. He cited Kitty Wells and Hank Snow as early influences, even riffing a few bars of Snow’s classic “I’m Moving On.”

“It’s emotional music,” Starr said about the genre, “and I’m quite an emotional person myself.”

Country sounds regularly crept into Beatles music, often with Starr taking lead vocals on songs such as “Act Naturally” (a Buck Owens cover on 1965’sHelp!) and “Don’t Pass Me By,” which he wrote for an appearance on 1968’s White Album. After the group broke up in 1970, one of Starr’s first solo ventures was a country album,Beaucoups of Blues,which he recorded that same year in three whirlwind days in Nashville. The city has since provided more vivid memories for the artist with Ryman appearances during his 2012 and 2016 tours.

“For me, it’s a blessing that I can play here,” Starr said of the hallowed hall. “I just feel an extra little beat in my heart every time I play here. So far-out.”

Onstage Wednesday night, he also seemed to have an extra spring in his step, singing and swaying his way through new music and old, often topping off his performances with two fingers on each hand jauntily raised in his trademark peace sign.

Indeed, Starr is a committed collaborator: Inan interview earlier this month, he avowed, “I only want to be in a band.” Still, even when he walked off the Ryman stage — which he did for nine of the 19 performances — he effortlessly claimed the spotlight when artist after artist interpreted choice selections from his massive catalog.

Standouts included The War and Treaty’s soulful “Without Her” (one of four songs that singer-songwriter Sorrells Pickard contributed toBeaucoups of Blues);Mickey Guyton’s torchy “You Don’t Know Me at All” (from Starr’s 1976 album,Rotogravure), and Larkin Poe’s gender-bending “I Wanna Be Your Man” (which Starr sang on the 1964 album,With the Beatles).

Starr did his own gender-bending with “Boys,” a 1960 hit for the American girl group, the Shirelles, that the Beatles covered on their debut album. That time around, Starr sang lead withPaul McCartney,John LennonandGeorge Harrisonproviding the bop-shoo-wops. For the Ryman show, that bit of merrymaking fell to Crow, Larkin Poe and Tuttle as Starr sang and drummed.

“Look Up,” Ringo Starr

Opry member Emmylou Harris surprises Ringo Starr onstage at his first of two sold-out headlining shows at the Ryman Auditorium to invite him to make his Grand Ole Opry debut on Feb. 21, 2025.courtesy Beautiful Day Media

courtesy Beautiful Day Media

The evening’s finale performance was the perfect fit: “With a Little Help from My Friends,” which Starr sang onSgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. For the Ryman shows, no doubt Starr got more than a little help, not only from all his musical friends onstage, but also from the 2,300 fans on their feet who lustily belted out the familiar chorus.

Starr and his All Starr Band have announced a 10-date tour, which begins June 10 in Bridgeport, Conn.

source: people.com