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Long Long Road Review: At 85, Ringo Starr has gone country in a way that feels completely natural. His latest album, Long Long Road, out April 24, 2026, picks up right where his previous country venture left off. It’s his second project working with producer T Bone Burnett, and honestly, this one feels like the real deal. Not some elder statesman trying to chase trends, but an artist who’s been circling back to his roots for decades and finally found the right people to make it happen.
The whole thing started pretty casually. Ringo and Burnett met at a poetry reading and got to talking about music. Burnett sent over a song, and instead of being a one-off collaboration, it spiraled into not just one album but now two. “After we did the last record, which I love listening to, this one just sort of happened,” Ringo explained in a recent interview. That’s not laziness talking. That’s what happens when you click with someone creatively and the material keeps showing up.
How we got here (Long Long Road Review
The story Ringo tells about his musical journey is fascinating. He talks about wanting to move to Texas when he was just a kid because he loved the blues coming out of there. Immigration never worked out, but the pull never went away. Growing up in Liverpool, American records arrived on merchant ships, and country and blues were mixed in with everything else. That’s the world he learned music in. So in some ways, this isn’t a reinvention at all. It’s more like coming home.
What’s different now is the execution. Burnett surrounded Ringo with Nashville’s best session players. Steel guitar, acoustic work, tight bass lines. The band they call “The Texans” brings serious craft to these recordings. And they’re young people, which matters. Instead of making something that sounds like it’s trying to recreate 1960s country, there’s actual energy here. Contemporary musicians playing traditional forms.
The songwriting is split around. Burnett wrote most of the original material, but Ringo’s hand shows up on several tracks too. They even dug up a Carl Perkins song from 1959 that almost nobody knows about anymore. And here’s where it gets interesting: Ringo’s first recordings with the Beatles were Carl Perkins covers. So you’ve got this full circle moment, decades later, recording another Perkins song. That’s the kind of thing that only sounds corny when you’re reading about it. When you hear it, you just get why it matters.
The singles tell the story (Long Long Road Review
“It’s Been Too Long” came out first and featured some bluegrass talent on harmony vocals. The song talks about how long it’s been since people really listened to each other, dreamed big dreams together. It’s got this deep, resonant sound with some lighter harmonies floating over top. In interviews, Burnett mentioned that Ringo doesn’t do many duets in his catalog. But this one works. The voices fit.
Then came “Choose Love,” a reworked version of a song Ringo recorded years ago. This time out, it’s got this twanged up production, psychedelic shimmer underneath. There’s a lyric in there about how the long and winding road is more than just a song. It’s clever without being obvious about it. And it’s got St. Vincent’s voice on it, which shouldn’t work but absolutely does.
Both singles showed different sides of what the album’s doing. One’s got that traditional country harmony vibe. The other’s more experimental, pushing at the edges of what Americana can sound like. You can tell this isn’t a genre exercise. It’s Ringo doing what he wants with people he trusts.
What makes this feel real (Long Long Road Review
There’s something about the way Ringo’s voice sits in these songs. He’s not trying to belt. He’s not trying to prove anything. He just sings in that plainspoken way he always has. On a song like “It’s Been Too Long,” his voice has this weight to it, almost like he’s remembering something. That suits country music perfectly. There’s always been something country about Ringo’s approach, even in the Beatles’ most experimental moments. He played with a swing to his rhythms, had that steady, unhurried feel.
Burnett made an interesting point about all this. He said if the Beatles came out today, they’d probably be called an Americana band. George Harrison played a Chet Atkins Country Gentleman guitar and used that fingerpicking style. So in a weird way, Ringo’s journey back to country music isn’t as strange as it might first seem. It’s more like he’s recognizing something that was always there.
The songs on Long Long Road talk about journeys and connections and finding love along the way. Not in a saccharine way. In a thoughtful, almost matter-of-fact way. Ringo’s got that quality where he can sing about something deeply personal and make it feel universal. A life traveling from Liverpool to London to New York to Los Angeles. All those stop marks, as he put it. That’s the album’s real subject.
Bringing in the guest artists (Long Long Road Review
The lineup of guests reads like a dream team. Billy Strings brings that bluegrass credibility. Sheryl Crow’s been making music for decades and knows how to serve a song. St. Vincent is an art rock player who could take this in weird directions but doesn’t. She just adds her voice and presence. Molly Tuttle and Sarah Jarosz bring that high lonesome harmony tradition. Every artist involved seems genuinely excited to be there, not just cashing a check.
What’s remarkable is that none of these guests feel like they’re guests. They’re woven into the songs. It doesn’t feel like Ringo brought in a bunch of famous people for a star-studded moment. It feels like he and Burnett picked exactly the right voice for each song.
The other tracks (Long Long Road ReviewThe other tracks
Beyond the singles, the album’s got ten songs total on two sides of vinyl. There’s “Returning Without Tears” and “Baby Don’t Go” on the first half. “My Baby Don’t Want Nothing” and “She’s Gone” on the second. Each title gives you some sense of the lyrical territory here. Relationships, reflection, the wear and tear of time. But also gratitude. Also contentment.
The way Ringo talks about the music, he doesn’t overthink it. When asked about the title track, he said something like: “I was reflecting, and that song sort of fitted in. It wasn’t like that was what I was doing, it’s what turned up.” That’s the opposite of overthinking. That’s listening to what you need and moving with it.
Looking ahead (Long Long Road Review
Ringo’s planning to tour these songs starting late May 2026. His All-Starr Band will be out on the road through mid-June, mostly hitting the West Coast. You can expect live debuts of the Long Long Road material mixed in with the classics. Ringo’s never been the type to just play his old hits in amber, so these songs will probably grow and shift in a live setting.
Final thoughts On Long Long Road Reviw
Long Long Road works because it doesn’t feel like a retirement project or a nostalgia play. It sounds like an artist following his instincts and finding people talented enough to bring those instincts to life. T Bone Burnett gets that Ringo’s musicality has always been rooted in something deeper than people give him credit for. That swing, that feel, that’s not something you learn in a week. That’s a lifetime of listening and playing.
At 85, Ringo could have done anything. He could have rested on his Beatles legacy forever. Instead, he made an album that sounds vital and present and honest. It’s got roots in American tradition but it doesn’t sound stuck in the past. It just sounds like good songs, played well, by people who care about getting it right.
Sometimes the most interesting thing an artist can do late in their career is admit what they’ve always loved and finally stop pretending they’re something else. That’s what Ringo’s done here. And it works.
Listen to “Long Long Road” by Ringo Starr (Long Long Road Review)
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