Ringo Starr has shared the second offering from his upcoming country album, Look Up. “Thankful” features Alison Krauss and is the only track on the album to be co-written by Starr. Look Up was produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett. It’s out January 10, 2025.
“I love this track. I wrote it with my producer and engineer Bruce Sugar and I feel we put an LA country sound to it. For the lyrics, I always like to focus on the positive, and for this song in particular, about what we can be thankful for,” says Starr. “I hope it brings you some joy and peace and love.”
Look Up is Starr’s first country record in more than 50 years and his first full-length album since 2019. After first meeting back in the 1970s, Starr and Burnett became acquainted again after an encounter in 2022. “I’ve always loved country music. And when I asked T-Bone to write me a song, I didn’t even think at the time that it would be a country song – but of course it was, and it was so beautiful,” Starr says. “I had been making EPs at the time and so I thought we would do a country [one]—but when he brought me nine songs I knew we had to make an album!”
For his part, Burnett called the collaboration “something like the realization of a 60-year dream I’ve been living.” He continued, “None of the work that I have done through a long life in music would have happened if not for him and his band. Among other things, this album is a way I can say thank you for all he has given me and us.”
The 11-track Look Up was recorded this year in Nashville and Los Angeles. Starr sang and played drums on all the songs. Beyond Krauss, a number of Nashville superstars appear on the album, including Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius, and Molly Tuttle. “Thankful” follows the previously announced single “Time On My Hands,” which was written by Paul Kennerly, Daniel Tashian (who is a co-producer on the album along with Sugar) and Burnett. Starr will perform the material at a pair of headline performances at the famed Ryman Auditorium on January 14 and 15, 2025.
Order Ringo Starr’s Look Up now.