Ringo Starr Discusses New Album, Jams With Ben Harper

On Tuesday, Ringo Starr held a press conference on the set of 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon' at the NBC Studios in New York to talk about his new album 'Y Not.' This summer, the former Beatles drummer will be hitting the road with his All-Starr Band starting on June 23. The lineup will include keyboardists Edgar Winter and Gary Wright, bassist Richard Page, guitarists Rick Derringer and Wally Palmar and drummer Gregg Bissonette.

Introduced by Fallon, Starr walked to the stage followed by Ben Harper and his band, Relentless7. Together they performed three songs, including 'Walk With You' and 'The Other Side of Liverpool' from the new album. The other song was the Beatles oldie 'I Wanna Be Your Man,' which featured Starr on both drums and vocals.

Afterward, Starr fielded a variety of questions about 'Y Not,' which is also his first self-produced record. In addition to such guests as Joe Walsh, Joss Stone and Harper, 'Y Not' also features Paul McCartney on two songs. "Working with Paul is always a pleasure for me," said Starr. "I asked him to come play on 'Peace Dream' because there's a verse about John Lennon, so I'd thought it would be nice if we were still there carrying the peace and love. I was playing him the other tracks and he heard what I've done already with 'Walk With You.' He said, 'Give me the mic.'"

Harper, who met Starr at the Transcendental Meditation show in New York last year, said, "It's been one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. I think what sums it up the best today at sound check was I don't know who had the bigger s----eating grin, Jimmy [Fallon] or myself."

In other Beatles-related matters, Starr offered his thoughts about the sound quality on the band's remastered albums, particularly the mono versions. "I didn't play the Mono box -- I came in with mono," he joked. "There's a lot of clarity in the new mixes and it didn't take away from the vibe of the record. It's really clear because of the technology they have now."

Asked about what material from the new album will be in the set list for his All-Starr Band summer tour, Starr said he plans to perform 'Walk With You' and 'The Other Side of Liverpool.' "No matter what, I'm gonna still do, 'With a Little Help From My Friends,' 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Photograph.' There's a lot of stuff I have to do. I'm not Bruce Springsteen. I will not go on for nine hours."

It is hard to believe that Starr will turn 70 years old this July, a fact that was brought up by a journalist who told Starr he looked more like 50. The drummer responded drolly, "Thank you, but I'm really 40." He then later said, "I'm in a profession where as long as I can pick up the sticks, I can work. My big hero of course is B.B. King ... and I want to go as long as he does. We're just lucky. We just keep going and doing it."