News : Ringo Starr announces special country concert with Jack White and Sheryl Crow

Ringo Starr has announced plans for a country concert with Jack White and Sheryl Crow, to celebrate his legacy.

The two-hour show entitled ‘Ringo & Friends At The Ryman’, which will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ in the spring, is being recorded tonight (January 14) and tomorrow (January 15) at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. You can find any remaining tickets here.

Starr will perform songs from his recent country album ‘Look Up’ along with his solo hits and The Beatles classics, through a country lens. Proceeds from the concert will benefit the American Red Cross and those impacted by the LA wildfires.

The wildfires, which began last Tuesday (January 7), have led to the confirmed deaths of 24 people, the evacuation of more than 180,000 residents and an estimated 12,000 buildings destroyed.

“It is always a thrill to play the Ryman, and this time we are going country!” Starr said in a statement via The Hollywood Reporter. “[Producer] T Bone [Burnett] has put together a great show. I’m excited to hear my songs done in a country vein and to play with this incredible group of musicians. It will be two nights of peace, love and country music.”

Along with White and Crow, Starr will also be joined by Brenda Lee, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Mickey Guyton, Sarah Jarosz, Jamey Johnson, Billy Strings, The War and Treaty, Larkin Poe and Molly Tuttle. Additional guest artists will be announced at a later date.

“There is not a single person in the world who has generated more goodwill than Ringo Starr, and I write this without hyperbole,” Burnett added. “ Ringo has been singing and playing country music since before he joined The Beatles, and many, if not most, of his recordings with that band were country songs – ‘Matchbox,’ ‘Honey Don’t,’ ‘Act Naturally,’ ‘What Goes On?,’ ‘Don’t Pass Me By’ – and even ‘Octopus’s Garden’ is a country song.

“We don’t know which country, but a country song, nevertheless. Nashville is a town full of extraordinary musicians, and a killer band of some of Nashville’s most extraordinary musicians will accompany Ringo and the rest of the artists.”

Elsewhere, Starr recently said he’s not interested in being a solo artist as he “only wants to be in a band”.