Jack White Brings Electrifying Performances to Ryman Stage
Rock music icon Jack White amped up the evening with his performances, joining Starr on the opening number “Matchbox” and later taking the lead on a hard-charging take on “Don’t Pass Me By.”
Ringo Starr Welcomes Billy Strings, Jack White, Molly Tuttle, Mickey Guyton & More During Ryman Show: 5 Top Moments
Written by djfrosty on January 16, 2025
Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has long threaded country music into his work, both as part of the Fab Four, and his decades of solo work.
During his tenure with the Beatles, Starr sang lead on the Fab Four’s cover of the Buck Owens classic “Act Naturally.” Later, as a solo artist, Starr decamped to Nashville to record his 1970 country album Beaucoups of Blues, crafted with Nashville session musician Pete Drake.
Now, more than five decades after that project, the 84-year-old Starr continues his country inclinations, crafting his recently-released new country album Look Up with legendary producer/musician T Bone Burnett, the former Bob Dylan band member known for his production work on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Walk the Line soundtracks, as well as his work with a range of artists, including Robert Plant, Elton John and Brandi Carlile.
Starr celebrated the release of Look Up with two concerts at Nashville’s famed Ryman Auditorium, on Tuesday (Jan. 14) and Wednesday (Jan. 15). Each show featured Starr welcoming a star-studded lineup of his fellow music luminaries, including Sheryl Crow, Jack White, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, The War and Treaty, Jamey Johnson, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Mickey Guyton, Sarah Jarosz and Larkin Poe. Burnett hosted the show, welcoming artists throughout the evening, as some performances featured artists in collaboration with Starr, while other performances featured the evening’s guest offering solo performances.
Together, they spearheaded a night of music that highlighted Starr’s long-forged country connections and the wealth of musical talent Nashville encompasses beyond the country commercial mainstream, incorporating songs from Starr’s Look Up, but also several country-tinged Beatles songs along the way.
“I feel blessed tonight, with all these great players coming out,” Starr told the audience.
Noting the work of artists including Strings, Tuttle and Jarosz, Burnett commented at one point, “Some of the most exciting stuff in music is happening in bluegrass.”
Backing the artists was an ace band of revered musicians that included Mike Rojas, Daniel Tashian, David Mansfield, Dennis Crouch, Paul Franklin and Jim Keltner. White joined Starr to open the show with a rendition of “Matchbox,” and later returned to the stage to perform an intricate, blazing version of “Don’t Pass Me By.”
Tuttle called taking part in Starr’s Look Up album “the honor of a lifetime, working with Ringo and T Bone.” The Grammy winner then played what she called “the first Beatles song I ever heard,” offering a rendition of “Octopus’s Garden,” from The Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Elsewhere in the evening, Crowell and Jarosz performed rollicking version of “Act Naturally.”
Elsewhere, Strings offered a blistering performance of “Honey Don’t,” Guyton gave a powerful, elegant vocal showcase on “You Don’t Know Me at All,” Johnson dipped into grizzled blues-rock territory on “Have You Seen My Baby,” and Larkin Poe teamed with Starr for “Thankful” and also offered a sultry version of “I Wanna Be Your Man.”
Throughout the evening, the artists feted Starr for not only his musical acumen and lasting musical influence, but also for his signature devotion to crafting music that uplifts.
“I needed this,” Crow said at one point, adding, “I can’t think of anybody who emanates love and peace like Ringo — and it’s not a brand, he really does…he believes in it.”
Starr’s two Ryman Auditorium shows were taped for the upcoming television special Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, which will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ this spring.
The show concluded, appropriately, with an all-star singalong of The Beatles’ classics “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help From My Friends,” which saw additional artists join Starr onstage, including rock and country music trailblazer Brenda Lee (the Beatles once opened for Lee back in the 1960s, prior to the Fab Four’s breakthrough).
Here, Billboard highlights five top moments from Ringo Starr’s Wednesday evening show.
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Starr, Strings and Tuttle Team Up For “What Goes On”
Two luminaries in the ever-expanding sphere of bluegrass and roots music, Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle, joined Starr on his top-shelf performance, with Strings taking lead vocals. The towering talents of these three musicians, with the ace backing band, drew one of the evening’s many standing ovations from the packed Ryman Auditorium audience.
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The War and Treaty Offer a Powerhouse Performance
The War and Treaty offered one of the few true ballads of the evening, with a rendition of “Without Her.” The duo’s Michael Trotter Jr. was seated at a piano, while Tanya Trotter stood beside the piano at a microphone. Their spectacular voices needed little else than the passionate-yet-understated piano to bolster their standing ovation-drawing performance of this aching song of memory and love, which Starr previously recorded on his Beaucoups of Blues album.
Tanya noted it was “an honor to be here singing for Mr. Ringo Starr.”
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Ringo Starr Commanders the Rhythm
One of the evening’s most sterling moments featured Starr not front and center, but commandering the drums, as he held down the rhythm and sang lead on “Boys,” joined by Crow, Tuttle and Larkin Poe.
“Should we let him play drums?” Crow quipped — before she, Tuttle and Larkin Poe offered up harmonies on a rendition of The Beatles’ 1963 song.
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Beatles Songs Get a Rollicking, Full-House Singalong
The evening concluded with an all-star singalong, with numerous artists joining Starr for rendition of The Beatles classics “Yellow Submarine” and “With a Little Help From My Friends.” As artists including Guyton, Crowell, Larkin Poe, White, Strings and Lee joined Starr — and the audience stood at rapt attention, joyously singing along — it was not only a potent reminder of Starr’s enduring influence and star power, but also recalled so many classic Grand Ole Opry all-artist singalongs that had been held on the Ryman’s stage in decades past, notching another connection between Starr and the country genre.