Ginger Winn playing her new song “Dear John” Honoring John Lennon 44 Years After His Tragic Death

Ginger Winn Salutes Iconic Beatle Lennon with New Single, ‘Dear John’

By Sal Cataldi | December 8, 2024

Ginger Winn, the young baker-turned-indie rock darling, is marking the 44th Anniversary of the passing of John Lennon with a new single, “Dear John,” the first follow-up to her critically acclaimed debut album, Stop-Motion.

Like her much-buzzed-about debut, Winn ventured from her native South Carolina to the Hudson Valley to craft the single with the help of some of our region’s heaviest musicians, a group led by Grammy-nominated producer/guitarist Jack Petruzzelli and Grammy-winning engineer Justin Guip of Milan Hill Studios.

As told in our August 2024 feature, Winn’s rise is a product of true serendipity, a tale worthy of a Hollywood movie.

In 2020, while living in South Africa and surviving by producing jingles for businesses via an online freelancing forum, Ginger was approached by Tina Baione to turn one of her husband Matt’s poems into a song as an anniversary gift. The partnership worked so well that Ginger and Matt continued to collaborate and came up with ten songs. In March 2024, Ginger and the Baiones decamped to Woodstock to cut these tunes with David Baron, the A-list producer of artists including Shawn Mendes, Lenny Kravitz, The Lumineers, and Shania Twain, at his Sun Mountain Studio.

Ginger Winn playing her new song “Dear John” Honoring John Lennon 44 Years After His Tragic Death

“When I was 12, I began to take a big interest in Lennon,” begins Winn. “He was an artist who wanted what was best for the world, and, like him, I want to write music that nourishes and inspires, that brings out the best in people.”

“Matt specifically wanted ‘Dear John’ to sound like a letter to a lover, and that’s what inspired the melancholy, the minor tonality of the music,” continues Winn. “The demo was recorded while I lived in South Africa with a guitar found in a dumpster, which I tuned down a whole step. It was perfect for this song, something we had to work hard to reproduce in the finished track.”

“When I was first dating my wife, I told her I wrote poetry, so she gifted me a book on writing,” says Matt Baione. “One of the exercises was to write a poem to someone living or dead, and I chose Lennon. I was inspired by that famous picture of Lennon signing an autograph for Mark David Chapman, who would shoot and kill him later that day. Lennon was a man full of contradictions but always seemed to have the best intentions in his art. I wondered if he might forgive the man who shot him had he had the chance.”

Baione continues: “I’ve been a fan of Lennon’s since grade school and even shared a birthday with him. I loved how he could sneak weighty concepts and even ambivalence into relatable songs. I hope that’s what we accomplished with this single.”

The tune has a ghostly quality that underscores the seriousness of the subject matter and the unanswered questions that still linger about Lennon’s shooting.

“Dear John”

He said you lived a double life
He said Imagine was built on lies
He could not understand
Such a complex man
So, he took your life into his hands.

Dear John (Dear John)
Where have you gone?
What did you do
To make that man point a gun at you?

Dear John
What did you do
To make him shoot?

He asked you for an autograph
You may have even shared a laugh
Would you have it in your heart
To forgive a man who loved your art?

-Lyrics by Matt Baione + Music by Ginger Winn (excerpt of song)

Producer and guitarist Jack Petruzzelli was a man perfectly equipped to bring both a studio gloss and Beatles-like vibe to Winn’s latest track. The Rosendale-based musician is best known for his production and guitar work with Joan Osborne, Rufus Wainwright, Ian Hunter, and Patti Smith. Petruzzelli is also known for his work with The Fab Faux, a supergroup of ace session musicians, including bassist Will Lee and drummer Rich Pagano, who faithfully recreate the Beatles’ music on stage.

“I first got involved with Ginger as a session man while she was working with David Baron on her debut album,” begins Petruzzelli. “I then went on to do some live gigs with her and was delighted to be invited to produce her latest.”

He continues: “Naturally, I am a huge Beatles fan and was very affected by John’s death. I was a teenager when it happened – home in bed when my sister woke me up to tell me the news. It was like the day President Kennedy was shot; I will always remember where I was and how I felt.”

Ginger Winn walking across the crosswalk in NYC

“As for the song, Matt’s lyrics really cut to the bone in terms of the violence and the ‘what ifs.’ It was about creating a mood that embellished the lyrics. We also worked to stay close to the feel of the demo Ginger recorded years back, which was ideal for the song.”

Lyricist Baione also contributed some guidance for the music that Petruzzelli brought to life.

“Matt had been listening to the first David Gilmour solo album and asked me to create a guitar solo in his style. As he is one of my favorite players for his work with Pink Floyd and as a solo artist, I was delighted to do it.”

The other players at the session were notable locals who, like Petruzzelli, have supported Ginger at recent live gigs, including the debut performance of the Stop-Motion album in its entirety filmed at the Woodstock Way Hotel (See video HERE). They included keyboardist Will Bryant, bassist Jeff Hill and drummer Dave Burnett. Petruzzelli played guitar, including the solo and some of the mournful, ambient, string-like passages created with an Ebow effect.

Ginger Winn playing her new song “Dear John” Honoring John Lennon 44 Years After His Tragic Death in a park in NYC

Winn, Petruzzelli, and crew waxed the new single with another Hudson Valley notable, three-time Grammy-winning engineer, Justin Guip, at his Milan Hill Studios.

Guip is best known for his long-running association with The Band’s Levon Helm. From 2004-2012, he served as production manager and front-of-house engineer for Helm’s Midnight Ramble concerts and as an engineer at the Barn’s in-house studio. He also played drums in Helm’s band and engineered and mixed three of his Grammy-winning albums, including Dirt Farmer and Electric Dirt. Guio has also manned the drum kit in Electric Hot Tuna, co-produced recent albums by Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, and produced solo albums by his Hot Tuna collaborator Jorma Kaukonen.

Guip adds: “I had a great time working with Ginger and Jack on ‘Dear John.’ She is always prepared, positive, and enthusiastic about working in the studio, as is Jack. Their sense of arrangement and sonics makes the chemistry in the studio a real pleasure. Jack and I have worked together with other artists so Ginger fit right into our pace and rolled with any necessary changes to better the track. In this song, we were able to push the sonics and tones a bit more, which enhanced the song’s storyline and mood.”

Since the August 2024 release of her debut album, Winn’s life has been a whirlwind. She completed a 14-concert West Coast summer tour opening for the Gipsy Kings and has performed at other venues like the famed San Gennaro Festival in NYC’s Little Italy with Sal “The Voice” Valentinetti and at Kingston’s Heart of Midtown Festival, Avalon Lounge, Rough Draft Books, and Rockwood Music Hall.

With all this creative work in the Hudson Valley, might Winn be the latest up-and-coming musician to call our region home?

“Funny you should ask that,” quips Winn. “I’m actually looking at an apartment in Kingston today. So, fingers crossed.”

“Dear John” is being released on December 8, the 44th Anniversary of Lennon’s death. To stream Ginger’s music, visit her page on Spotify.