Ringo Starr has announced his new album ‘Long Long Road’ and shared the lead single ‘It’s Been Too Long’ – listen below.
- READ MORE: The Beatles: every song ranked in order of greatness
It will be the Beatles legend’s 22nd solo album and will see him return to the country sound of his last record, last year’s ‘Look Up’.
Like that album, ‘Long Long Road’ has been overseen by the acclaimed producer T Bone Burnett, and it will feature appearances from St. Vincent, Sheryl Crow and Billy Strings. It is released on April 24 via UMe and you can pre-order it here.
The first taste of the album is ‘It’s Been Too Long’, which was written by Burnett and Daniel Tashian, and features harmony vocals from Molly Tuttle and Sarah Jarosz. Ringo’s voice takes the lead on the wistful track, over twanging Americana guitars and warm production.
Watch the visualiser here:
Starr has said: “I’m blessed to have T Bone in my life right now and working with me on these records. After we did the last record, which I love listening to, this one just sort of happened. I like to say sometimes I make the right moves, like you can go left or right at any point, and one of the right moves was hooking up with T Bone for ‘Look Up’, and now for this one, which I’m calling ‘Long Long Road’, because I’ve been on a long long road.”
Burnett added: “I’ve loved Ringo’s playing and his singing for my whole life. And then one night we were at a poetry reading together and he said, why don’t you write a song for me? So I wrote him a Gene Autry type song because I always heard Ringo as a Texas artist, the way he played felt just like Texas music to me. Ringo Starr is a recording artist of the highest caliber, and I wanted to surround him with these young masters, bringing in some of this extraordinary young energy that’s happening around Nashville for both of these records.”
Ringo Starr – ‘Long Long Road’ tracklist:
- ‘Returning Without Tears’
- ‘Baby Don’t Go’
- ‘I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore’
- ‘It’s Been Too Long’
- ‘Why’
- ‘You And I (Wave Of Love)’
- ‘My Baby Don’t Want Nothing’
- ‘Choose Love’
- ‘She’s Gone’
- ‘Long Long Road’
Ringo is also heading on the road in the US this summer, playing 12 dates in May and June. He kicks off in Temecula, California on May 28 and concludes at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre on June 14. See all of the dates here and find any remaining tickets here.
The drummer will be played by Barry Keoghan in the upcoming quartet of Beatles biopics, while How To Have Sex’s Mia McKenna-Bruce will play his wife Maureen Starkey. Paul Mescal is playing Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson is John Lennon, while Joseph Quinn will be George Harrison. See the first images of the actors in character here.
Sam Mendes (1917, Skyfall, American Beauty) is directing the four separate films, with each one set to focus on a different member of the band. The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event is currently slated for an April 2028 release.
Last May, Keoghan discussed meeting Ringo in preparation for the role: “When I was talking to him, I couldn’t look at him. I was nervous, like right now. But he’s like, ‘You can look at me. My job is to observe and kinda take in mannerisms and study him. I want to humanise him and bring feelings to it and not just sort of imitate.”
Ringo’s son Zak Starkey, who until last year played in The Who and has also been a touring member of Oasis, told NME last year what advice he would have for Keoghan. “Get a big rubber nose,” he joked. “I don’t know what else to say. He doesn’t look anything like my dad, does he? You can fix anything, can’t you? You can certainly give someone a big rubber nose. The thing about my dad is his personality. He sold The Beatles to America, he’s the one with the charisma. Pulling that off will be hard. He’s just himself.”