It’s still hard to believe Tom Petty is gone.
“Man, that was way too early, it was way too soon,” John Ginty said at First Night Morris 2018, before launching into a full-throttle tribute to the rock legend who died last October at age 66.
Ginty, a wizard on the Hammond B-3 organ, called Heartbreakers’ keyboard player Benmont Tench “an unbelievable inspiration,” and said Petty’s influence on Ginty’s bandmates even extended to their stage attire.
“Tom was one of those songwriters that really kind of changed the world. He was that influential,” said Ginty, a Morristown High School grad (’90) who has performed with Robert Randolph, the Dixie Chicks and Santana, among other big acts.
He knows the Heartbreakers are broken-hearted.
“We feel for those guys,” he said.
Ginty’s band did Petty proud with a sizzling performance on one of the coldest New Year’s Eves that anyone can remember. The group segued from You Wreck Me to Ginty’s Peanut Butter, from his album Bad News Travels.
Slideshow photos by Jeff Sovelove and Kevin Coughlin
Fellow Morristowner Mike Buckman manned the guitar, Moe Watson handled drums and Justine Gardner played bass.
They were joined at Morristown’s Mayo Performing Arts Center by guitar-slingers Bill Kelly, who sang lead on You Wreck Me, and Jimmy Bennett, of the Bennett Brothers and Alexis P. Suter’s group.
Here’s a bonus video, of Ginty’s crew roaring through Damage Control, an original tune:
