Ringo will bring Starr power to PPAC on June 12

The Beatles still loom large in the musical world more than 50 years after John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr called it a day in 1970. Everyone knows at least one Beatles song, and you can hear their harmonies and song structures being adopted by a variety of acts.

Surviving members McCartney and Starr are still rocking their solo careers, with Ringo as the headliner of his All Starr Band, which will perform in a sold-out show at Providence Performing Arts Center on June 12.

The band has had a fluctuating lineup since its first incarnation in 1989, with Starr on drums. He’s currently being joined by Toto’s Steve Lukather and Average White Band’s Hamish Stuart on guitar, bass and vocals, Men At Work’s Colin Hay on guitar and vocals, Edgar Winter on keyboards and saxophone, Gregg Bissonette on drums and trumpet, and Warren Ham on saxophone and other instruments.

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What did Ringo Starr think of the Disney+ documentary 'Get Back'?

Ahead of their current tour, Starr and the rest of the band held a news conference on May 26 that was both virtual and in person at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario. After each member reflected on how much they'd missed playing live for 2½ years because of the pandemic, Starr was asked about "Get Back," the 2021 Disney+ documentary on The Beatles, and whether it would bring a different audience due to its critical acclaim.

“I’m sure it’ll show some interest, but we all have our core fans. They’ll be coming," Starr said. "What I’ve noticed with the All Starrs is when we first started, a lot of the audience was sort of my age, and over the years it’s gotten younger. They’ve seen less of me at that age, and the kids are coming in. I thought the documentary was so great, and Peter Jackson did a great job. I was a bit stunned at first, because I thought it was going to be two hours. It’s six hours, but it’s easy to watch.”

A few minutes later, Winter was asked about his album "Brother Johnny" that he released in February in tribute to his brother, blues legend Johnny Winter, who died in 2014. Starr is featured on one track, a rendition of “Stranger,” originally written by Johnny.

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“It was very odd the way the whole thing came up,” Winter said. “I was going to do ‘Johnny B. Goode’, I used to sing it with Johnny, and [Joe Walsh] said ‘That’s traditional Chuck Berry. I don’t know what I could bring to that. What else have you got?’ There’s this really sensitive ballad Johnny wrote that’s very uncharacteristic of anything that he would ever do, and Joe [Walsh] picked that song. He did a very beautiful job playing guitar, and I had thought from the very beginning about getting Ringo to play on something. Finally, I thought, ‘Well, Joe is on this track, Ringo is married to the lovely Barbara Bach, and her sister Marjorie is married to Joe, so they’re brothers-in-law.”

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“I thought since Joe’s on this track, it would be great to have them together, and I worked up the nerve to ask him,” Winter added. “I called him up and he said, “Edgar, I’ll do it for you.” It just touched my heart. Since it’s a ballad, it gave him a chance to do all those classic Ringo fills, and then we got Michael McDonald to do a beautiful vocal. Ringo Starr, Joe Walsh and Michael McDonald are a pretty interesting group of people.”

Does Ringo have any plans to retire?

Starr was asked about the success and longevity of his career and what drives him to continue making new music. He said that the feeling that made him want to play music as a teenager has never faded.

“I think I was inspired at 13, and that has never left me,” Starr said. “The dream, the joy, and then I started playing. I only wanted to be a drummer. Then I got a kit of drums and I was in some really good bands. It’s still there. ... My mother had this great line. We were in some Liverpool bands, going out and playing down home, and she said, ‘You know what, son? I always feel you’re at your happiest when you’re playing,’ and deep inside, I am.”

“I just love it. Now I’m playing with these guys, and it’s just great,” he added. “... People say ‘What about retirement?’ Well, I’m a musician, I don’t have to retire. As long as I can pick up those sticks, I got a gig. I may be playing the blues, but that’s how it is. I just love it, and I think you’ve heard everybody mention that it’s part of us. We’re players.”

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band come to Providence's PPAC