RINGO STARR 'I'M A BIT SLOPPY, BUT IT'S STILL A GROOVE, YOU KNOW?'

The 84-year-old musician's new album, Look Up, explores his long love of country music — and even sees him getting back behind the drum kit

- JOSEPH HUDAK

When Ringo Starr was gearing up to record his first country-music album in 54 years, he was in tune with the genre's surging popularity, including Beyoncé's twangy pivot, Cowboy Carter. "We were all aware of Beyoncé. I think it's great she made that move," Starr, 84, tells Rolling Stone.

But the former Beatles drummer says Look Up, his collection of 11 new rootsy songs (out Jan. 10), was inspired not by country mania, but by a chance meeting with old-timey music champion T Bone Burnett at a book reading by George Harrison's widow, Olivia. "I said, 'I'm doing these EPs, and if you've got a song, why don't you send it to me?' And he sent me this beautiful country song," Starr remembers.

Burnett, the mastermind producer behind the Grammy-winning country soundtrack O Brother, Where Art Thou?, suggested Starr make a proper album and supplied more songs for Look Up, along with a cadre of hot-shot players like Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle to back up the Beatle. Starr co-wrote the 11th track, "Thankful," and played drums throughout. "I'm a bit sloppy, but it's still a groove, you know?" he says.

Growing up in England, how did you first discover American country music?