Ringo Starr recently made his Grand Ole Opry debut. The appearance was part of the Opry’s ongoing 100th Anniversary celebration and in support of his new country album, Look Up. The Academy Award winner and two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee was surprised onstage with an invitation to play the Opry by his friend and Opry member Emmylou Harris during Starr’s sold-out concerts at The Ryman Auditorium in January.
“As you may have noticed I dressed up a bit tonight. I’m a cowboy inside,” Ringo said from the Opry stage wearing a slick white cowboy hat. “This is a great honor and an incredible moment for me. It’s just a dream to end up here.”
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. Starr’s new album comes after a chance meeting with T Bone 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 vein, which happily put Starr on a path to record Look Up.
For a full Opry 100 schedule, tickets, and more info on the Opry’s anniversary year, visit opry.com.
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