FOUNDERS KEEPERS: Ringo Starr, Cecilia Castleman, Jamey Johnson, Yola, Chris Eckman, Gold Star

The top two picks in this month’s roundup are a study in contrast, and yet there’s overlap. At 84, Ringo Starr remains one of the most recognizable recording artists on the planet, with all of the Beatles’ catalog plus dozens of solo and All-Starr Band releases to his credit. Meanwhile, 23-year-old Cecilia Castleman is an aspiring singer-songwriter who’s releasing her debut album this month. But there’s a direct connection: Grammy-winning producer Daniel Tashian worked on both albums, and renowned singer Alison Krauss appears on each as well. Read on for more new music from old-school country master Jamey Johnson, British crossover artist Yola, expat Walkabouts leader Chris Eckman, and Los Angeles indie mainstay Gold Star.

Ringo Starr — Look Up

The legendary Beatles drummer had made a country record in Nashville before — 1970’s Beaucoups Of Blues, produced by pedal steel ace Pete Drake. When Ringo asked his friend T Bone Burnett to write a song for a new EP, Burnett responded by sending him nine songs, prompting Starr to expand his plans. Burnett now lives in Nashville, and so much of Look Up was recorded there, with additional work done in Los Angeles. Aided by co-producers Daniel Tashian and Bruce Sugar, Burnett surrounded Ringo with younger-generation talent, including Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Larkin Poe, and Lucius. The songs are mostly old-school country-folk-rock, fleshed out by A-list backing players including Dennis Crouch, Colin Linden, David Mansfield and Greg Leisz. Ringo left the songwriting mostly to T Bone and his collaborators (Tashian, Billy Swan), but he teamed with Sugar to write the sweet album-closer “Thankful,” which features harmonies from Alison Krauss.

Cecilia Castleman — Cecilia Castleman

While Ringo went from Los Angeles to Nashville for Look Up, Nashville resident Castleman headed to L.A. for this 13-song debut. Don Was produced most of it, with Daniel Tashian at the helm for the single “Waiting On You.” Tashian co-wrote that song and two others with Castleman, who wrote the rest on her own (except “Looking For June,” written with Hank Compton). Her backing crew is right up there with Ringo’s: Benmont Tench is on keyboards, the omnipresent Pino Palladino plays bass, and on drums is Abe Laboriel Jr., longtime drummer for Ringo’s old pal Paul McCartney. The sound, though, is quite different: Castleman’s reference points are less country troubadours, and more akin to the lush, dramatic soundscapes of Kate Bush or Tori Amos. Castleman’s soaring soprano is the star here; lyrically, she writes largely about personal relationships, with standout tracks including “Company” (as in “I don’t need your company anymore”) and the self-explanatory “You Go Through Girls Like You Go Through Cigarettes.” Adding strings to “It’s Not What I Mean” is Alison Krauss, who has a family connection: Cecilia’s father, Robert Lee Castleman, wrote Krauss’s Grammy-winning 2001 hit “The Lucky One.”

Jamey Johnson — Midnight Gasoline

Alabama native Johnson has such a perfect country baritone that it’s easy for him to embody Waylon Jennings’ aesthetic. (Johnson or Sturgill Simpson; or both, if you’d like.) His 2008 and 2010 releases went platinum and gold, respectively, but he largely eschewed recording for the next decade, save for a heartfelt Hank Cochran tribute. On Midnight Gasoline, Johnson picks up right where he left off, mixing the richly melodic traditional country of evocative songs such as “Someday When I’m Old” and the title track with the bluesier accents of “Saturday Night in New Orleans” and “Sober.” Country stalwart Randy Houser guests on two songs, the rollicking “Trudy” and the humorously downbeat “I’m Tired Of It All.” That Grammy-winning Nashville producer Dave Cobb was involved is no surprise; he produced the second half of the album. The first half’s production is credited to Johnson’s nine backing musicians, collectively and wryly dubbed the Kent Hardly Playboys. The emotional “21 Guns” carries special weight for Johnson, who says he wrote it “because I have gone to too many funerals of Marines I served with.”

Yola — My Way (EP)

Following up two Grammy-nominated Americana albums with an EP of dance-oriented pop might seem like a radical shift, but in the case of British singer extraordinaire Yola, it’s really just a return to her roots. Before she took the world by storm with her 2019 debut Walk Through Fire on trendsetting Nashville label Easy Eye Sound, Yola had begun making a name for herself in England as a vocalist with trip-hop and DJ acts such as Massive Attack and Bugz in the Attic. Maybe that’s why Yola’s singing here feels so naturally tuned into the beat-centric arrangements. Leaving Easy Eye and its in-house producer Dan Auerbach behind, Yola worked with lauded producers Sean Douglas (Lizzo, Selena Gomez) and Zach Skelton (Lil Nas X, John Legend) on this five-song set for S-Curve Records. The opening track “Future Enemies” grooves to electronic beats, making the different direction clear from the outset. Each of these five songs has a different style and feel, but Yola’s voice shines throughout, tying it all together. Roots music fans who were drawn into Yola’s first two records might be surprised, but the more adventurous listeners among them likely will appreciate her enchanting new horizon.

Chris Eckman — The Land We Knew The Best

Before the grunge wave crested in Seattle, it seemed possible that Sub Pop’s biggest signing might not be Nirvana or Mudhoney but rather the Walkabouts, whose early albums revealed a far more eclectic band that mixed cutting-edge rock with rootsy elements. By the mid-1990s the band was mostly forgotten in the U.S. but had legit hit records in Europe, so it was no surprise when Eckman eventually moved there after the turn of the century. As such, the titular “land we knew the best” has now become Slovenia for Eckman, who has released several solo albums on influential German label Glitterhouse. Eckman’s own records tend to be pared-down affairs; these songs are quiet in tone but intense in their emotional resonance, recalling the solo work of his late Sub Pop mate Mark Lanegan. The darkly gorgeous opener “Genevieve” sets the tone, with Belgian musician Jana Beltran’s plaintive piano and empathetic harmonies anchoring an exquisite soundscape. Eckman shifts gears a bit midway through for the more upbeat “Buttercup” and the bluesier “Laments,” then returns to the record’s passionate core with the desperate “Haunted Nights” as the narrator vows to “make it through these haunted nights again.”

Gold Star — How To Shoot The Moon

Originally from Austria, singer-songwriter Marlon Rabenreither has been a fixture on the Los Angeles indie scene for the past decade, releasing several records under the name Gold Star. On How To Shoot The Moon, he worked with producer Sean O’Brien, known for his engineering work with The National and others. A key addition this time around is Jordan Odam, who co-wrote all the songs with Rabenreither in addition to contributing bass, guitar and backing vocals. Connor Catfish Gallaher’s pedal steel runs color many songs with a burnished sheen. Gold Star feels equally at home whether serving up slower-paced fare such as the title track and “In Ruins,” or kicking up the intensity on the slow-burning rocker “Searchlights,” and rollicking rave-up “Fade Away.” Lyrically, the album’s most captivating track is “Fentanyl,” in which Rabenreither is up-front about his own opioid misadventures.