Ringo Starr has new music out this year, but don’t expect to hear it on tour.
The drummer was recently asked by Variety about previous comments he’d made regarding not playing new material on the road with the All-Starr Band because people tend to use those moments for bathroom breaks.
“I promise you, any band out there, say ‘I’d like to do something from my new LP, EP, CD,’ and you can feel the vibe of people going to the toilet, or going to find some T-shirts,” Starr explained. “This, with the All Starrs, is so great because [playing the hits] is why we’re there: We’re the best 1-800 band in the land right now, with Colin [Hay] and [Steve] Lukather and everybody.”
READ MORE: Top 10 Ringo Starr Songs Written by the Other Beatles
For those who do want to hear the new songs, Starr’s newest EP, Crooked Boy, was released in April, produced by Linda Perry.
“Linda did a great job,” Starr told Variety. “She wrote me four great songs, so I’m only playing drums and singing them, and the rest of the instrumentals, that’s the band she found. And a big find for me was Nick [Valensi of the Strokes], on guitar — he was so great.”
Country Music Coming From Ringo Starr
And there’s more, too. Starr is currently working on his first full-length LP since 2019, a country album whose title has yet to be revealed. It’s a collaboration with T Bone Burnett, who wrote Starr nine songs even though the drummer wasn’t originally planning on making a full album.
“As far as I’m concerned, the drums are good and the songs are good and, you know, I sing to the best of my ability, but sometimes I change the melody,” he said. “That’s the way I am, and I had to back off a bit and do his melody, because he wrote it. So that’s what happened. It just came about and we’re just going with the flow. And now we’ve got a country record.”
