Ringo Starr: Beaucoups of Blues

Ever heard of the album "Ringo in Nashville"?  Maybe you know it as "Beaucoups of Blues."  The story goes that Ringo was picking up pedal steel guitarist Pete Drake at the airport (en route to sessions for "All Things Must Pass"), and Drake noticed all the country tapes in Ringo's car, and they got to talking, and decided to cut an album in the Nashville method of bringing in players, learning a song and cutting it, all within a few hours.  Drake got together a band that included Jerry Reed, Charlie Daniels, The Jordanaires, Ben Keith, Charlie McCoy and D.J. Fontana (Elvis' original drummer), and they cut the backing tracks before Ringo came to Nashville to lay down vocals in late June.  Oddly, the engineer was Elvis' original guitarist, Scotty Moore... who doesn't actually play anywhere.

Acetates for the original LP ("Ringo In Nashville") were found in 1992 and auctioned.  They include one extra song: "Wishing Book."  It's a pleasant, mid-tempo ditty that's at once plaintive and FILTHY!  No wonder it didn't make it to the final product; the last verse is about looking at a Playboy.  The LP also has a tune about hookers ("Woman Of the Night"), so I guess they figured there was only room for one gross song.

As for the title, "Ringo In Nashville" would have been great!  Instead, it's named for the song "Beaucoups of Blues," which was for some reason selected as the lone single.  It made #88 (his first charting solo 45), and so it's earned a place on every one of Ringo's compilations.  LAME.  There are so many better songs.  On the title track, Ringo sounds hesitant; maybe it was the first tune he recorded?  Even the b-side ("Coochy Coochy") is better: it's an infectious quasi-jam with shouted lyrics that recall "Don't Pass Me By."  The pic at the top is from the back of the original picture sleeve, but with the photo of Ringo reversed.  I did that because I felt like it.

The only other outtake to surface is "Nashville Jam," a segment of the all-star group... jamming.  It's on the 1995 CD reissue (along with "Coochy Coochy"), which is out of print.  This album was briefly reissued on vinyl in 1981 (in Capitol's budget line), but that's been it.  Copies are still cheap and plentiful, though, proving that this enjoyable-but-eccentric LP is still off of most people's radars.