Ringo Starr: 'I made all my mistakes on stage'

Ringo Starr: 'I made all my mistakes on stage' 2 hours ago Share Save Add as preferred on Google Regan Morris Los Angeles, California "Call me Ringo." That's what the former Beatles drummer says when asked if we should call him Sir. He joins us at the swanky Sunset Marquis hotel in West Hollywood where rock stars have gathered for decades in a luxury oasis behind the Sunset Strip. We're here to talk music – specifically Ringo Starr's new country album, Long Long Road. But first we deal with the honorifics because although he was knighted in 2018 for his services to music, technically, he says, it's wrong to call him Sir Ringo because he's actually "Sir Richard." Sir Richard laughs. He just wants to talk music, and he's not worried about formalities or titles. His new album is more Nashville than Los Angeles and he seems more LA than Liverpool as he encourages an American interviewing a British national treasure for the BBC to just relax. "Peace and love," he says, a soothing catchphrase often used by the 85-year-old music legend who looks, moves and sings like a much younger man. "I've always loved the attitude of LA," he says, adding that he's had a home here since the 1970s. "Besides, I love the heat and the light, it's just been a good place for me." On his new country album, Starr collaborates with the likes of Sheryl Crow, Billy Strings and St Vincent. And he says that's the way he likes it. He never plays music alone, not even to practice. "That's how I did it. I made all my mistakes on stage," he says. Before joining The Beatles, he says he was practicing drums alone as a kid, and the neighbours complained, yelling at him to shut up. "I think that's what did it," he says laughing, adding that he tells all his grandchildren to stop practising music alone and to get together and join a band. "If you play piano, bass, saxophone, I will play with you all night," he says. "Get with people." For Long Long Road, Starr teamed up with legendary producer T Bone Burnett...