Ringo Starr will team with Jack White, Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, and others to celebrate his catalog — with a country twist — in a CBS concert special airing this spring, with some proceeds going towards California wildfire relief efforts. Ringo and Friends at the Ryman will tape Jan. 14 and 15 in Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, with Rodney Crowell, Mickey Guyton, Emmylou Harris, Sarah Jarosz, Jamey Johnson, Brenda Lee, Larkin Poe, Molly Tuttle, and the War and Treaty also joining Starr onstage.
“I’m excited to hear my songs done in a country vein and to play with this incredible group of musicians,” Starr said in a statement. “It will be two nights of peace, love and country music.”
Starr just released a country album, Look Up, produced by T Bone Burnett. “There is not a single person in the world who has generated more goodwill than Ringo Starr,” Burnett said in a statement. He emphasized Starr’s deep connection to country music, noting that many of the drummer’s vocal turns with the Beatles “were country songs — ‘Matchbox,’ ‘Honey Don’t,’ ‘Act Naturally,’ ‘What Goes On?,’ ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ — and even ‘Octopus’s Garden’ is a country song. We don’t know which country, but a country song, nevertheless.”
The program will showcase Starr performing songs from his new album alongside some of his classic Beatles tracks and solo hits, including “Boys,” “Act Naturally,” “Yellow Submarine,” “Don’t Pass Me By” and “It Don’t Come Easy.” Proceeds from the release of a planned all-star performance of “With a Little Help From My Friends” from the show will benefit the American Red Cross’ California wildfire relief efforts. The special will also stream on Paramount+; an exact air date has yet to be determined.
Starr recently told Rolling Stone his country fandom can be traced back to his love for singing cowboy Gene Autry. “I was a lad in the movies, and they had Saturday morning for kids, and one of his movies was on,” he said. “He started singing ‘South of the border, down Mexico way,’ and two other guys on horses went ‘Aye, yi, yi, yi.’ It was just one of those musical thrills for a kid. So that’s how it started.”
