Ringo Starr Reveals Plans For Country EP With T Bone Burnett
He and his All Starr Band were talking just before tonight’s opening date on their latest tour.
Ringo Starr has revealed details of his next two EP releases, one to be produced by Linda Perry and the other, for 2024, a country EP overseen by T-Bone Burnett. He spoke about them during a Zoom Q&A earlier this week with the whole of his All-Starr Band, just before they headed out on their latest tour, which begins tonight (19) in Temecula, CA, and of which he said: “I feel ready to rock.”
Of the EPs, he went on: “I finished one just before we started rehearsing. Linda Perry is doing an EP on me, because she gave me two songs in the last two EPs. We got to know each other and I love her and she’s just great. She said ‘Oh Ringo, let me do it,’ so I said ‘Ok, you do it.’ So the only thing I’ll be doing on that EP is playing drums and singing.
“Then out of the blue I asked another guy to help us out. I get to meet and work with people I’ve never worked with, which I’ve always found exciting. I asked T-Bone, if he’s got any time and he wants to do it…well he did want to do it and he sent me, I promise you, one of the most beautiful country tracks I’ve heard in a long time. It’s very old-school country, it’s beautiful.
“So I thought ‘Hey, I’m going to make a country EP.’ A lot of my life is changed by the moment that comes into it. But that won’t be out until next year, because I’m not doing the country one until after the tours.”
Speaking of his policy in recent years to release EPs rather than albums, he noted: “It started to happen with the pandemic. The first EP, we were all in masks, which is not what music is about, but we could send files to each other, so that’s how it started. I just felt [with] an EP, you can look at it in a serious way, and you can do it in a month. An album does take longer. So that’s what I’ve been doing.”
The band’s Colin Hay, formerly of Men At Work, said of their current form: “We seemed to hit our stride a few months ago, the band was sounding fantastic and we’re picking up where we left off. Very much looking forward to it.” Starr mused: “Playing has never been gruelling. I love to play, I love to play with these guys.” To laughter, he added: “We’re the best band in this room.”
Asked about how he maintains such energy levels with his schedule, Ringo said: “I go to the gym most mornings, and I get ready. Dave Hart, who put the tour together, gave us too many days off, so I complained. He’s filled in some of them now. If I’m on the road, I want to play. I don’t want to sit in a hotel and relax for three days.
“With this band, everybody takes the weight. With Paul [McCartney], he’s the man, so he has to have time off, to get himself back together. But because we’re this crowd, we could play every night, I promise you.” He added drily: “But Edgar [Winter] needs a day off.”
Asked what he thinks his legacy might be, the former Beatle reflected: “For me as a musician, I had a dream at 13. I wanted to be a drummer and that dream is still going on. So my life is easy. But I did do a masterclass to show kids how to play – not how to play, but just to play a basic pattern, to see if they had the coordination.
“And I used to do that at home with kids, and if they didn’t have that coordination, I wasn’t going to be cruel, so I’d say ‘I think you should try piano.’ It’s something I do, and I’ve never once not loved doing it.”
Buy or stream Ringo Starr’s EP3.
