How Ringo Starr Turned His Quarantine Into Music Gold

Corralling pals for ‘Here's to the Nights'

The first person I called, of course, was Paul. Then Ben Harper and Dave Grohl came to this very room to do their vocals. Then Sheryl Crow. It was participation time right now, and everyone came. They did the film for it too, and that made it a lot more emotional, because you saw everyone singing that chorus.

Taking the writing reins on the reggae-driven “Waiting for the Tide to Turn"

That's the only one I'm a cowriter on (with engineer Bruce Sugar). I decided early, I'm not going to be the writer this time. I said, I'll produce, I'll play drums and I'll sing. Let someone else write. But then this track came together. The interesting bit was we got an incredible reggae guitar guy, Tony Chin, to play on it. He started with Bob Marley and played with everybody ever since. And just by chance he lives in the area, so he came over. That was beautiful to get an absolute great reggae guy. Yah, mon!

Why adding a late track mattered so much

I was only going to do four tracks, like the first EP. I had four tracks, and we're finishing up, when Steve Lukather calls up and says he's coming over with a song he and Joe Williams wrote. And the lyrics go, there's not enough love in the world, not enough peace in the world. I had to do it. How could I not do it?

The decision to scrap his 2020 and 2021 tours

In early March last year there were those rumors that things aren't going right. What did we know? I thought, I won't be going out in May and June, but I'll do the exact same tour next year. And that didn't work out. Rather than do a virtual tour or with separation, I decided we would do it next year. That's when we feel it will be safe, and people will be able to hang and be with each other without the fear. You never know who's got it and can pass it. And I've got the band, the technicians, all the people that work behind the scenes. It's a crowd. I'd love to play. The audiences love me, I love them. We have a lot of fun. But I'm not taking that chance.

What he loves about the Ringo Rocks book

I do honestly love this book. To turn the page and see Dr. John, what a guy. He was just so great in the first band. A lot of my thoughts are on the very first band. Seeing each photo brings back the space I was in at the time.

Touring with the All Starrs versus with The Beatles

I've been doing (All Starrs) tours for 30 years, and I'm not tired. I'm blessed. As long as I can hold the sticks, I can work. It didn't all end when The Beatles ended. I made a few records but I did not go on tour until 1989. It took quite a while for me to go back on the road. With The Beatles, there was a lot of noise from the audience. We expected that. As players, we were giving it all we got, but we were holding back a bit, too. We felt we could move on. When we played live on the roof (in 1969, The Beatles’ final public performance), wow, it felt great, but it didn't go any further.

The legendary Beatles drummer plans to get back on the road to tour in 2022.

Scott Robert Ritchie

What aging offers

I'm a lot better at letting go. There's no time for grudges. I'd like to say there's no time for anger, but sometimes I do just explode. But even that's less. Nothing keeps me awake at night. All my memory is in there, it just takes a while for things to bubble to the top. Who's that actor? What's his name? And 10 minutes later, when it makes no sense, I remember it's Burt Lancaster.

Unfulfilled goals at 80

None. It's interesting. Barbara and I were watching TV last night, and the show was about how they're opening Mount Everest again. And we both said, you know, I don't want to climb Mount Everest. Every mountain is getting too high.

Edna Gundersen, a regular AARP music critic, was the longtime pop critic for USA Today.