Born Richard Starkey, Starr has been a monumental figure in British music since joining The Beatles in 1962. Although best known for his work behind the kit for The Beatles, Sir Ringo, now 85 years old, has forged an incredibly successful solo drummer-singer-songwriter career, releasing 21 studio albums and 54 singles since the band split in 1970. Previously added alongside the rest of the “Fab Four” as a group, he was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an individual in 2015 for “Musical Excellence”, and in 2018 he was knighted by Prince William for services to music. Since 1989 he’s toured the globe with his All-Starr Band, a supergroup with a rotating roster of rock’s finest artists, including Toto’s Steve Lukather, Joe Walsh of Eagles, and on occasion his son, fellow drummer Zak Starkey.

After announcing he was moving away from full-length albums to more concentrated EPs in 2021, he released his first LP since 2019 in January last year. ‘Look Up’ marked a shift in sound towards country music, due to Starr beginning a partnership with American writer and producer T Bone Burnett. Formerly a guitarist for Bob Dylan, Burnett’s work on film scores have bestowed upon him an astonishing 13 Grammy Awards from his Americana and roots soundtracks on movies including Cold Mountain and country music-oriented Crazy Heart. Crazy Heart also won him both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe. Sir Ringo is quoted by the BBC as saying “I’m blessed to have T-Bone in my life right now and working with me on these records.”

The first single from his new project released yesterday, Tuesday the 3rd of March. Titled ‘It’s Been Too Long’, the track is a groovy little number, rolling along with Sir Ringo’s drumming and singing. The overall template is very Beatles-adjacent, but made distinct by the twanging country guitars and the female backing vocals. Guest features are provided by country artists Molly Tuttle and Sarah Jarosz.

Also confirmed to be on the album ‘Long Long Road’ is a cover of guitarist Carl Perkins’ 1959 song ‘I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore’. Nicknamed “The King of Rockabilly”, The Beatles had previously covered three of Perkins’ songs, with Starr himself singing on their versions of ‘Honey Don’t’ and ‘Matchbox’. Sir Ringo explained that Perkins’ influence is felt throughout the record, saying “I recorded two Carl Perkins songs with The Beatles, and both T Bone and I wanted one on this record and he found this beautiful track I’d never heard before, ‘I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore’.

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A post shared by Ringo Starr (@ringostarrmusic)

The full album ‘Long Long Road’ will release on label Universal Music Enterprises on the 24th of April, with a cast of extras including Sheryl Crow, St. Vincent, and Billy Strings. You can check single ‘It’s Been Too Long’ on Sir Ringo’s official Youtube channel, and pre-order physical versions or pre-save the album on streaming platforms here. See below for the full track listing:

1. Returning Without Tears
2. Baby Don’t Go
3. I Don’t See Me In Your Eyes Anymore
4. It’s Been Too Long
5. Why
6. You and I (Wave of Love)
7. My Baby Don’t Want Nothing
8. Choose Love
9. She’s Gone
10. Long Long Road

NSG is made up of six members – Kruddz, ODG, Papii Abz, Dope, Mxjib, and Mojo – and their collective name has many meanings, including ‘New Sound Group’ and ‘Never Stop Growing’, both of which are very apt given the group’s work. They wrote a message to their followers upon the release, which reads, “Our debut mixtape ‘Roots’ is out now! Thank you for having faith in us and our journey so far!”

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Our debut mixtape ‘Roots’ is out now! Thank you for having faith in us and our journey so far! [Link in Bio]

A post shared by NSG Entertainment (@nsg_music) on Jun 18, 2020 at 4:02pm PDT

With themes from political rebellion to influential women, the rappers offer insightful lyrics set to strong beats, making it clear why their music is so popular. But, for listeners who are just hoping for a good time, track 6 ‘Why Stress’ is a chilled out embodiment of summer.

Lead single ‘Options’, a collaboration with Tion Wayne, came out all the way back in 2018, and is their biggest song to date, reaching number 7 on the UK Singles Charts and 79 million streams on Spotify. This was followed by ‘Ot Bop’, ‘Trust Issues’, ‘Ourself’, ‘Porshe’, and ‘Grandad’, released throughout 2019 and 2020. The last has only been out since yesterday, already gaining over 80,000 views on YouTube.

Each single came with a music video, as the group was lucky enough to film before the lock-down was put into place. ‘Options’ has 28 million views and shows the group members in various London scenes – some are with fans or at gigs, while some are in front of city landscapes.

While ‘Roots‘ is NSG’s first mixtape, they have an album entitled ‘Grown Up‘ which came out in 2017 after the release of first singles, all of which were taken from the album. As said by member Kruddz, NSG is “a lifestyle, it’s a movement” which symbolises their journey.