Ringo Starr Releases 'Long Long Road' With T Bone Burnett
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- Ringo Starr released 'Long Long Road,' his second country/Americana collaboration with producer T Bone Burnett, 15 months after 2025's 'Look Up,' with Burnett framing the project around his long-held belief that Starr's voice is one of rock's most 'undersung'
- Burnett assembled a roster including Molly Tuttle, Billy Strings, David Mansfield, Dennis Crouch, Colin Linden, Daniel Tashian, and Paul Franklin, with the article highlighting the 'utter sonorousness' of Starr's vocals on the new record
- Starr, now 85, told Variety the rest of 2026 will bring a best-of collection, a tour, and a possible yet-to-be-completed EP, and described the second album as feeling natural rather than a fresh start
- The album includes a Carl Perkins song that Starr, Burnett, and the previous interviewer all initially didn't know, plus a re-recording of Starr's own 2005 track 'Choose Love' with new lyrics referencing Beatles songs like 'The Long and Winding Road' and 'Tomorrow Never Knows'
- Starr discussed playing both the Ryman Auditorium (eight or nine years with the All Starrs) and the Grand Ole Opry, and traced his stage name not to Westerns as often assumed, but to childhood nicknames earned for wearing rings — Richard became 'Rings' became 'Ringo'
Why it matters: Ringo Starr, at 85, has his second country-tinged collaboration with T Bone Burnett out 15 months after the first, and Burnett has made no secret that his mission is to reframe Starr as an undersung vocalist rather than just a legendary drummer. A best-of, tour, and possible EP round out 2026, suggesting a late-career creative push rather than a victory lap.
