“It's about Admiration....not Imitation.” - Andy Jennings
— The Story Behind the Dean Martin Tribute
Dean Martin Tribute Artist Andy Jennings to Release Original Song Honoring the Legendary Crooner
Coming November 6 TO streaming platforms, “A Drink with Dino” celebrates Martin’s enduring influence while helping introduce the timeless sound of traditional pop to a new generation.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
RICHMOND HILL, Ga. - Dean Martin tribute artist and Savannah, Georgia native Andy Jennings will release his first original single, “A Drink with Dino,” on November 6, 2026, a musical tribute to the legendary entertainer whose voice, humor and effortless style have captivated Jennings for virtually his entire life.
The new song represents a natural next step for Jennings, who has spent the past year and a half
performing the music of Dean Martin at festivals, restaurants, private events and other venues. While his performances celebrate the songs that made Martin an American entertainment icon, Jennings says he also wants to help carry the traditional pop genre forward and introduce its music and spirit to
a new generation of listeners.
For Jennings, that connection to Martin began remarkably early.
“From begging my parents to let me stay up late to watch the 10 p.m. show when I was just five or six years old, to spending my days as a youngster playing the albums
continuously and studying the pictures and liner notes on the album covers while the music was playing, I've had an obsession with Dean Martin from my earliest
memories,” Jennings said.
“I learned every song word by word and note by note, and I could never get enough.
Just seeing him perform, sing and laugh has always brought me tremendous joy.
That obsession has stayed with me all my life. My hope as I sing these songs today is that I can somehow bring some of that same joy to others.”
That lifelong admiration ultimately inspired Jennings not only to perform Martin's music, but also to create something new within the musical tradition that Martin helped make famous.
“I've dedicated my work to keeping this style of music alive,” Jennings said. “I perform a Dean Martin tribute show, but I also wanted to contribute something new
to the Great American Songbook tradition. A Drink with Dino is my original toast to Dean Martin and that era.”
Interestingly, “A Drink with Dino” began as an album title before it became a song. Jennings had chosen the phrase as the name for his forthcoming Dean Martin tribute album when the title began
inspiring ideas and lyrics of its own. Those ideas eventually developed into the original song that will
now introduce the album.
Rather than attempting to recreate a particular Martin recording, A Drink with Dino is an original
composition inspired by the warmth, humor and relaxed sophistication associated with Martin and the classic era of American popular entertainment. The song celebrates both the performer himself and
the memories his music continues to evoke generations after his recordings first became popular.
The Recording Project
The single and album were recorded at Suntone Recording Studio in Savannah, Georgia, owned by Adam Wyatt. Jennings and Wyatt produced the music together, with Wyatt also serving as mastering
engineer for the project.
For Jennings, the Savannah recording sessions provided a professional setting in the same city where his fascination with Martin and traditional pop first began. For Wyatt, the project also offered an
opportunity to work deeply inside a genre that was relatively new to him.
“I've thoroughly enjoyed working with Andy over the past 18 months. He has been a focused and dedicated artist, and has made tremendous progress. This album has
been a fun project. I haven't spent a lot of time in this genre before, so it's been an enlightening experience and I've become a fan of this sound after being immersed in it for the last few months.”
The November 6 single will serve as the introduction to Jennings' debut tribute album, also titled A Drink with Dino. Over the past 18 months, Jennings has recorded more than 100 songs for his personal music library while developing his live tribute performances. The new album marks the first time he has assembled a collection of those recordings for commercial distribution.
The full A Drink with Dino album is scheduled for release on November 13, 2026. Jennings also plans to follow the album during the holiday season with several recordings of traditional Dean Martin
Christmas favorites.
For Jennings, the larger goal is not simply nostalgia. It is to preserve what made the music timeless while helping new listeners discover it.
“Dean's music has brought me joy for as long as I can remember,” Jennings said.
“The hope is to preserve some of what made that music so special, but also to introduce it to people who may not have grown up with it. If someone discovers this style of music because they heard me sing it, then we've helped keep something
pretty special alive.”
“A Drink with Dino” will be available beginning November 6, 2026, on major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube Music.
read about my musical journey
A DRINK WITH DINO - Original Single by Andy Jennings
Available November 6 on Streaming Services
THE STORY BEHIND THE SONG
“Admiration, not imitation.”
For Andy Jennings, A Drink with Dino began as an album title.
After spending years immersed in the music of Dean Martin and more recently bringing that music to audiences as a tribute performer, Jennings wanted a title that captured the relaxed, intimate spirit of the project - something that felt less like a formal tribute and more like sitting down for an evening with the music, the memories and the personality that made Dean so unforgettable.
A Drink with Dino immediately felt right. And almost as soon as the title was chosen, it began suggesting something more.
The phrase started generating images, memories and lyrics - Vegas, the Rat Pack, cigarette smoke, a favorite song on the jukebox, a glass raised in tribute and, above all, the effortless charm that made Dean Martin so universally likable.
“Dino's style, charm and likability are so iconic that once I had the title, the song practically wrote itself," says Jennings. "There were so many images and memories connected to Dean that the lyrics just started coming.”
The result is Jennings' first original recording, “A Drink with Dino,” a musical toast to Martin and to the era he represents.
The song also reflects the philosophy behind Jennings' entire tribute project: admiration, not imitation.
Rather than trying to recreate Dean Martin or simply reproduce one of his classic recordings, Jennings wants to honor what made the music special in the first place - the warmth, phrasing, humor, sophistication and easy connection with an audience - while bringing his own voice and personality to the performance.
“I've never wanted this to be about pretending to be Dean," he added." The tribute is in respecting the music, respecting the style and trying to preserve some of the joy that he brought to people.”
That idea ultimately turned an album title into something Jennings had not originally planned to create: an original song that could stand alongside the classic material while still clearly expressing why the project exists.
A Drink with Dino is not an attempt to recreate the past.
It is a toast to it - and an invitation for a new generation to pull up a chair, pour a drink and discover why the music still matters.
The Dean martin project
why this tribute is unique
A Savannah, Georgia native based in nearby Richmond Hill, Jennings honors the songs, style and spirit of Dean Martin while bringing his own voice and personality to the music.
For Andy Jennings, the music of Dean Martin has never been simply nostalgia. It has been part of the soundtrack of his life for as long as he can remember.
Jennings developed an extraordinary fascination with Martin at only five or six years old. He remembers begging his parents to let him stay up late enough to watch Dean on television, spending hours playing his albums, studying the
photographs and liner notes on the covers, and learning the songs word by word and note by note.
That connection never went away.
Decades later, Jennings has transformed a lifelong passion into a growing career as a Dean Martin tribute artist and traditional pop vocalist, performing the songs, style and spirit of the legendary entertainer for audiences throughout the Savannah and Lowcountry region.
Over the past year and a half, Jennings has performed at festivals, restaurants, private events, senior communities and holiday celebrations throughout coastal Georgia and the South Carolina Lowcountry.
His approach is rooted in admiration rather than imitation. Jennings strives to capture the warmth, relaxed phrasing, humor and effortless connection with an audience that made Martin unique, while bringing his own personality and interpretation to the music.
At the heart of the project is a larger purpose: helping keep traditional pop and the classic crooner tradition alive for audiences who remember it - while introducing it to listeners who may be discovering the music for the first time.
That mission has increasingly moved from the stage into the recording studio.
While developing his live performances, Jennings has recorded more than 100 songs for his personal music library. In 2026, he began preparing the first collection of those recordings for commercial release, working with producer Adam Wyatt at Suntone Studios in downtown Savannah.
The resulting debut asingle, A Drink with Dino, is scheduled for release on November 6, 2026, with the full album (of the same title) released shortly after the single.
The entire project was derived from the fact that Dean Martin's music brought him tremendous joy throughout the years.
Today, Jennings' goal is to pass some of that joy along - preserving a timeless musical tradition, contributing something new to it, and perhaps inspiring another generation to discover why this music has endured.
Press photos
