Ringo Starr Releases New Track 'Thankful' Featuring Alison Krauss

Ringo Starr released “Thankful,” the second track off his forthcoming country music album, Look Up. The song features Alison Krauss and is the only track on the album which was co-written by Starr, along with Bruce Sugar. The album comes out on January 10, 2025 and was produced and co-written by T Bone Burnett.

“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,” Ringo reflected. “I hope it brings you some joy and peace and love.”

Recorded this year in Nashville and Los Angeles, Look Up features 11 songs and nine were written or co-written by Burnett, one by Billy Swan and the other, as previously mentioned, co-written by Starr and Bruce Sugar. Starr sang and played drums on all the songs and co-wrote the album’s closer, “Thankful,” featuring Alison Krauss. Burnett enlisted some of Nashville’s finest and hottest talent for the record, including Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius, Molly Tuttle and the aforementioned Krauss. The album’s debut track, “Time On My Hands,” written by Paul Kennerly, Daniel Tashian (who is a co-producer on the album along with Sugar) and Burnett, is currently available to stream.

Starr’s lifelong love of country music has been apparent and celebrated throughout his illustrious career.  He performed and wrote numerous country and country-tinged songs throughout his years with The Beatles (i.e. “Act Naturally,” “What Goes On,” “Don’t Pass Me By”) as well as with the earlier Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, and recorded a country album, Beaucoups of Blues, in 1970 as his second solo album.  His love of Country and the Blues led him to try and emigrate from London to Texas while still a teen, after reading that Lightnin’ Hopkins lived in Houston.  

The artist’s new album comes after a chance meeting with Burnett at an event in Los Angeles in 2022 (the two had first met in the 1970s), where Starr asked Burnett to write a song for an EP he was recording.  Taking the task to heart, Burnett returned with nine songs, all in a country vain, which happily put Starr on a path to record Look Up: his first country album in more than 50 years and his first full-length album since 2019.

Starr will be bringing this new music to Nashville when he headlines the famed Ryman Auditorium on January 14 and 15, 2025. Tickets are currently on sale.

About Ringo Starr

Throughout his career he has received nine GRAMMY® Awards and has twice been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- first as a Beatle and then as solo artist. Between 1970 and 2023, Ringo has released 20 solo studio records and 4 consecutive EPs in 2020, 2021 and 2023.  He has acted in over 15 films, received an Academy Award®, and has been nominated as an actor for an Emmy®. Ringo has published 8 books; had a stint as a male fashion model, and that same year went behind the lens as the photographer for some Foo Fighters PR photos. Ringo is also a visual artist and has had numerous exhibitions of his work and his “Peace Sculpture” is on permanent display in the Beverly Hills Park. In 2008 Ringo began dedicating his July 7 birthday to promoting Peace and Love and the movement has grown to include events all over the planet and into the stars with support from NASA. In 2018, Ringo was knighted and in 2019 he celebrated 35 years of touring with his All Starr Bands. In 2022 Ringo received an honorary degree as a Doctor of Music from Berklee College of Music and earlier he was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame with the Joe Chambers Musicians Legacy Award.

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