<\/p>\n
\n\tRingo Starr<\/a> had a fair amount of faith that when he asked his former bandmate Paul McCartney<\/a> to write him a song, the ex-Beatle<\/a> would come through with a winner. \u201cWell, he\u2019d written me a couple of good songs, you know, like \u2018Yellow Submarine.\u2019 I thought, \u2018He can do this,\u2019\u201d Starr recalls, before breaking into a laugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe result is \u201cFeeling the Sunshine,\u201d a relentlessly jaunty track on Starr\u2019s new four-track EP,\u00a0Rewind Forward<\/em>, out today (Oct. 13).\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe request came about during one of the pair\u2019s frequent conversations. \u201cWe were Facetiming each other \u2014 we do that quite a bit \u2014 and\u00a0I say, \u2018I\u2019m doing an EP. Write me a song.\u2019 And he said, \u2018OK,\u2019\u201d Starr says. \u201cAnd he not only wrote it, he\u2019s on bass, he\u2019s singing on it. He\u2019s all over it. He actually put his drums on it.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBut fans won\u2019t hear Sir Paul\u2019s drumming on the song: Starr may be the only musician in the world who could tell McCartney his drumming wasn\u2019t up to par.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhen asked how he rates McCartney as a drummer, the playful Starr laughs and, without missing a beat, says, \u201cI wiped him off completely and did it myself. It would be like me sending him a track and I\u2019m on bass.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tSitting outside at West Hollywood\u2019s famed Sunset Marquis hotel and nattily attired in a vibrant black and green suit, the world\u2019s most famous drummer looks decades younger than his 83 years.\u00a0He is relaxed and still beaming about a recent holiday in Malibu spent with eight of his nine grandchildren, who range in age from 24 years old to 20 months. \u201cI\u2019m an only child. We do a family photo and there\u2019s 19 of us and I\u2019m related to all of them,\u201d he exclaims, shaking his head.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThose good vibes permeate\u00a0Rewind Forward.<\/em>\u00a0The uplifting title track, written by Starr and engineer Bruce Sugar, sums up Starr\u2019s message of believing love and peace can change the world\u00a0and persevering during challenging times. The somewhat nonsensical title just came to Starr. \u201cIt was just something I shouted to Bruce. We needed a line. Out of the blue, no big plan,\u201d he says. But he realized the title would come with a price. \u201cI knew that every time I did press, I\u2019d have to explain it like \u2018A Hard Day\u2019s Night.\u2019 I just have one of those mouths that are faster than the brain.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe theme of moving ahead resonated with Starr. \u201cIt\u2019s all about going forward. It\u2019s just the fact that sometimes we all get stuck and have to fight your way out,\u201d he says. \u201cOh, I\u2019ve been stuck many times!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe EP opens with the rollicking \u201cShadows on the Wall,\u201d co-written by Joseph Williams, Ray Williams and Toto<\/a>\u2019s Steve Lukather, who has played live with Starr for years. It closes with \u201cMiss Jean,\u201d written by Mike Campbell, best known as a member of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers<\/a>. Campbell also plays guitar and sings backing vocals on the track, which features fellow Heartbreaker Benmont Tench on piano. Similar to his outreach to McCartney, Starr called Campbell \u2014 whom he\u2019d met years before, when Starr had recorded with Petty \u2014 and asked if he had a song for him. \u201cThat\u2019s how my life is,\u201d he says. \u201cThe spaces open up and I just jump in. That\u2019s why that track is on there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDuring the pandemic, Starr switched from releasing LPs to EPs.\u00a0Rewind Forward<\/em>\u00a0is his fourth EP since 2021. He likes releasing music in shorter, more digestible bites. \u201cIt looks like there\u2019s a beginning and an end,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing an [LP], it\u2019s a lot of tracks, and I just felt like four would be good.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tWhile he\u2019s concentrating on promoting\u00a0Rewind Forward<\/em>, Starr already has a backlog of new material to record for future projects including a potential country EP, crafted around a song that producer T Bone Burnett sent him. His affection for country music runs deep and he famously sang lead on the Beatles\u2019 1965 cover of \u201cAct Naturally,\u201d originally recorded by Buck Owens and the Buckaroos in 1963.<\/p>\n \n\tHe and McCartney join country icon Dolly Parton<\/a> on her upcoming\u00a0Rockstar<\/em>\u00a0album, performing \u201cLet It Be\u201d with the superstar. Her version of the Beatles classic debuted at No. 2 on Billboard<\/em>\u2019s Digital Song Sales<\/a> chart in August, making it the first time\u00a0Starr and McCartney\u2013 or any of the four Beatles, including the late George Harrison and John Lennon \u2013 have shared credited billing with one another on an entry on a Billboard<\/em>\u00a0songs chart outside the group.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cFar out!,\u201d Starr, an avid chart-watcher, says of the new chart stat. \u201cWell done, Dolly!\u201d\u00a0Starr has known Parton since the mid-\u201870s. \u201cWe\u2019d bump into her, and she was always great to work with, and it was my pleasure to play on it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \n\tThis year also marks the 50th\u00a0anniversary of \u201cPhotograph,\u201d the sweeping, nostalgic tune co-written by Starr and George Harrison that became Starr\u2019s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 as a solo artist in 1973. \u201cWe were on a yacht. We were at the Cannes Film Festival,\u201d Starr says of writing the song, but the details pretty much end there. \u201cI\u2019ve very little memory of whatever went on on that holiday,\u201d he says with a chuckle, before going into a sweet remembrance of working with Harrison over the years.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cGeorge was like my producer for awhile. He took care of me. He put the right chords in because I could only play three,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a great piece of footage where I\u2019m playing \u2018Octopus\u2019s Garden\u2019 and he\u2019s going [shouts<\/em>] \u2018F!\u2019 I don\u2019t know where F is. \u2018G flat!\u2019 He\u2019s just shouting out these chords, laying on the settee. Look, I can play any song in the world as long as it\u2019s in C,\u201d Starr says, laughing loudly at himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhile many artists have talked about how when the pandemic forced them to quit touring it made them realize how much they love playing live, Starr needed no such reminder. \u201cNo, no. I\u2019ve always loved it,\u201d he says, after more than 60 years on the road. \u201cAnd as the drummer, I need all the players.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tFor the last 34 years, has recruited players for his All-Starr Band. Started in 1989, Starr has surrounded himself with a rotating cast of renowned musicians. Each performance the group runs through Starr\u2019s solo and Beatles\u2019 hits, as well as the other members\u2019 beloved chart-toppers, for a non-stop, hit-filled show. Over the decades, All-Starrs have included Joe Walsh, Nils Logfren, Todd Rundgren, Felix Cavaliere, Peter Frampton, Eric Carmen, Richard Marx and Sheila E.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tStarr fondly remembers \u201cDream Weaver\u201d singer Gary Wright, a member of the All-Starr Band from 2008-2011, who died last month. \u201cHe was a really fine musician, and he had a great smile and he had great songs,\u201d he says. \u201cYou\u2019re not in the All-Starrs unless you have great songs.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tEach year\u2019s All-Starr Band plays 20 dates in the spring and 20 dates in the fall, with the 2023 fall tour ending tonight in Thackerville, Oklahoma at the\u00a0WinStar World Casino and Resort. This year\u2019s lineup includes Men at Work\u2019s Colin Hay, Average White Band\u2019s Hamish Stuart, Toto\u2019s Lukather, Edgar Winter and Kansas\u2019 Warren Ham.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe love it. I know the audience loves me. And I love them,\u201d Starr says. \u201cAnd the band has only one rule: We\u2019re not there to be miserable. And I\u2019ll support you to the best of my ability and I expect the same from you. We do it for each other. I\u2019ve had some people that thought they didn\u2019t have to do that and they played s\u2013t.\u201d Those people, he duly notes, were not invited back.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tWhile it seems like there a few firsts left for Starr, he experienced one in September when the All-Starr Band played Nashville\u2019s Ryman Auditorium, the birthplace of the Grand Ole Opry. \u201cI\u2019m from Liverpool and I love country music and now I\u2019m at the Ryman. That\u2019s bigger than Shea!,\u201d he says, referencing the Beatles legendary appearance at New York\u2019s Shea Stadium in 1965. But then true to form, Starr bursts into laughter and adds, \u201cI only made that up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n