Album Review: Ringo Starr "Long Long Road"
Can we just take a minute to notice how prolific Sir Ringo Starr has been in recent years? Since his 2019 album What's My Name?, he has been has been knocking out killer EPs including 2021’s Zoom In and Change the World (both were included on my Best Albums of 2021 list), 2022’s EP3, 2023's Rewind Forward and 2024's Crooked Boy. After all of those EPs he released the country album Look Up (which I included in my Best Albums of 2025 list), a collaboration with producer / songwriter T Bone Burnett. Sir Ringo is no stranger to country music, going back to 1970's Beaucoup of Blues. Based on the reception and fun Burnett had with Sir Ringo, they reunited only a year later for another country album, Sir Ringo's 22nd solo studio album Long Long Road, which drops today from UMe.
album cover
In addition to Burnett returning, this album also sees the return of co-producer, co-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Tashian. It's kind of a beautiful thing in a way that Daniel's father Barry Tashian was in the Boston garage band The Remains, who opened for The Beatles in 1966 and now Barry's son is collaborating with The Beatles' drummer! Other guests who appear on this album include St. Vincent, Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings, and Molly Tuttle. Sir Ringo is quite a showman and it comes through on this album. I was lucky enough to see him live in 2010 on his 70th birthday where his old bandmate Paul McCartney came out for the encore and performed “Birthday” with him. For my second time seeing him in 2022 he was at the Boch Center and third time seeing him in 2024 at Chevalier Theatre it blew me away to see someone in his 80s singing and drumming like he was in his 20s. Some critics have already begun to refer to this at the greatest album by an 85 year-old and it's hard to argue that.
Ringo Starr in concert at Chevalier Theatre on Sept. 18, 2024
Bottom line: I am not the biggest country or Americana fan (although I do have some in my collection), but this is a solid album and it's Sir Ringo leaning into other genres. His pop-rock sound emphasizing peace and love is not bad and that needs to be said. But this is more of an emphasis on musicianship. There's the cover of Sir Ringo's 2005 song "Choose Love" as well as a the country standard "I Don't See Me in Your Eyes Anymore". It's great to see Sir Ringo, who doesn't need to perform or record, loves it so much he's still doing it and trying new things with talented collaborators! Now with the news about a Sir Paul / Sir Ringo duet coming soon, I hope they do an album in their 80s soon!
For info on Long Long Road
3.5 out of 5 stars
