By ANDREW DALTON, Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The country naturally Ringo Starr.

It was just a part of his career. Beatle’s beginningSo it wasn’t a serious departure for him to make a full country album, the upcoming “Look Up,” featuring the modern master of classic country and Americana. T Bone Burnett.

“I’ve made 20 albums, and there’s always a country element to each one,” Starr, 84, recently told the Associated Press.

His love of music—Hank Williams and Kitty Wells are favorites—began in childhood; Added to this was his love of blues, swing and all things hometown.

“Liverpool is the capital of country music in England,” Starr said, “because I think it’s largely because it’s a port, and the reason we have rock ‘n’ roll music physically is because of the kids on the boats. They were going to go to America, they were going to go to Egypt, They would go anywhere, but they were bringing the music.”

Starr — even his stage name has a cowboy vibe — had a star turn with the Beatles in 1965, when he sang Buck Owens’ honky-tonk classic “Act Naturally.” Many of the original Beatle songs had country undertones, including the drummer-sung “What Goes On” and “Don’t Pass Me By.”

This would culminate in the full-country release of his second solo album, “Beaucoups of Blues,” in 1971.

She continued to dabble in the subject — she recorded a duet “Act Naturally” with Owens in 1989 — but didn’t make a full country album again for decades.

Enter Burnett, the chief cultural curator of classic country for the past 25 years, the man behind the soundtracks to “O Brother Where Art Thou” and “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and the unlikely pairing of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

Starr had known Burnett for decades but had never collaborated with him on an entire project.

“I used to throw a lot of parties in the ’70s and he was always there and I never once invited him,” Starr said. “We laugh about it most of the time.”

They were both at the Sunset Marquis last year for a poetry reading by Olivia Harrison, the widow of Starr’s former bandmate George Harrison.

Starr was making a series of EPs He met with different writers and producers, including on Linda Perry’s last album, and suggested Burnett give him a song for the next song.

Burnett quickly returned with a country tune.

“It was beautiful. “It’s the most beautiful song I’ve heard in a long time,” Starr said. He started thinking, “I’m going to do a country thing.”

Inspired, Burnett would write nine songs, including two songs, one of which was written by Starr with his friend Bruce Sugar, and turn the EP into an LP.

While Starr played drums and sang in Los Angeles, Burnett recorded parts of the record in Nashville, bringing together young neo-classical country artists Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle for a few tracks each.

And Krauss sings with Starr in the song he co-wrote: “Thankful” It was released as the album’s second single on Friday, and in this song it manages to introduce the slogan “peace and love” into a genre that’s often about nothing else.

“Yeah, I put that in the song,” he said with a smile.