Ringo Starr: Long Long Road (Universal Music CD, 33:22). This is the former Beatle’s 22nd studio album and is his third country and Americana album, after “Beaucoups of Blues” (1970) and “Look Up” (2025). It also is Starr's second album with producer and songwriter T Bone Burnett, who wrote or co-wrote six of the 10 tracks, including the first single, “It’s Been Too Long.” Starr himself co-wrote three songs, two with Bruce Sugar, and the re-recording of "Choose Love" from his 2005 album of that name. The other track is a smooth cover of Carl Perkins’ 1959 version of “I Don’t See Me in Your Eyes Anymore,” written by Bennie Benjamin and George David Weiss.

In general, Ringo’s vocals sound smoother than ever, with the songs more pleasant than exciting. The one exception is the re-recording of “Choose Love,” which has a bit of a psychedelic touch to the strings, dobro and crypto clav backing. The other two strong songs are Burnett’s “Returning Without Tears,” co-written with Joe Henry, that has an Americana feel and nice vocal harmonies by Molly Tuttle, and Burnett’s solo-written “My Baby Don’t Want Nothing,” which opens with a quiet chorus that builds up, making the song simple, but nice.

Tuttle is an American vocalist, songwriter, guitarist, banjo player, recording artist and teacher in the bluegrass tradition. Here, she also sings vocal harmonies on “She’s Gone,” duets with Starr on his “You and I (Wave of Love)” and sings backup on “It’s Been Too Long,” as well as playing acoustic guitar on both “Returning Without Tears” and the upbeat “Why.”

There is a bit of rock in “It’s Been Too Long,” while “She’s Gone” is a not-too-sad lament. “Baby Don’t Go” has a nice chorus beat and nice guitar, but is a bit repetitive. The closing title track, by Starr and album co-producer Sugar, opens with some Beach Boys-like harmonies and features a viola and a talk section.

In addition to playing drums throughout the album, Starr plays bongos on “She’s Gone.” Grade: album B+

Toad the Wet Sprocket: Rings: The Acoustic Sessions (Abe’s Records CD). The Santa Barbara, California alternative rock band, which took its name from a Monty Python comedy sketch when forming in 1986, had its best success in the 1990s. The band continues to tour and will perform, with Men at Work and Shonen Knife opening, July 29 at the Maine Savings Amphitheater in Bangor, Maine.

This new 14-track album, released this past winter, is a collection of organically re-imagined versions of the band’s most powerful and enduring songs. It is more than an unplugged greatest hits collection as it presents the songs as they exist in this moment, as performed by the band today.

“People always think of an acoustic record as stripped down” said bassist Dean Dinning in a press release, “but what if it wasn’t?”

The new recordings, produced by the band (now Dinning, singer Glen Phillips and guitarist Todd Nichols) with Sean McCue, reflect Toad’s commitment to taking their songs as seriously as their fans did when they fell in love with the quirky band 35 years ago.

The album opens with “All I Want” from “Fear,” leveraging their biggest hit to establish the new sonic and emotional landscape they are exploring. The new arrangement captures the essence of the song, which was a hit in 1992.

“It was a lot of fun figuring out how the original electric parts would work on the acoustic guitar,” said Nichols in the same press release. “Sometimes that meant changing up the parts or even playing different solos so everything felt right in these new versions.”

In addition to re-introducing familiar hits such as “Walk on the Ocean” and the uplifting “Something’s Always Wrong,” the band also re-imagines deep cut fan favorites “Inside” and “Little Heaven,” giving these songs another chance with a now more mature audience.

Also from the earliest days are the reflective “Jam” and “Scenes from a Vinyl Recliner,” while the more recent era is represented by “California Wasted" and the very stripped-down “Transient Whales.” Another highlight is the open-ended arrangement of “Woodburning,” which has sweep.

After its success in the 1990s, the original quartet broke up, but then subsequently regrouped frequently over the ensuing years, both on stage and in the studio. A formal reunion in 2010 only reaffirmed the DIY idiosyncrasies the quartet established at the outset, first independently, then on Columbia Records. Drummer Randy Guss officially left 10 years later, thereby leaving multi-instrumentalists/vocalists/songwriters Dinning, Nichol, and Phillips as the creators of a new studio album, 2021’s “Starting Now.”

Guests on the album include Sara Watkins, playing forlorn fiddle on “Nanci” and violin on “Walk on the Ocean”; Brian Mann, accordion on “All I Want” and “Inside”; Michelle Beauchesne, cello on “Jam,” “Transient Whales” and “Scenes from a Vinyl Recliner”; and Steve Hernandez, vibraphone on “Scenes” and “Little Heaven.” Grade: album A