** PLEASE NOTE: This show will take place at our alternative home for the evening: THE WATER RATS. Doors open 7.30pm. Music starts 8.15pm. **
THOMAS GABRIEL: Thomas Gabriel, eldest grandson of Johnny Cash, is looking to the future while also honouring the Cash family history. Undoubtedly influenced by his iconic grandfather, Thomas seamlessly blends Country, Americana and Rock to create his personal sound and thus, is carving his very own path.
Thomas had a front row seat to one of the greatest and most influential musicians of the twentieth century, growing up in the ‘fishbowl of famous’! Thomas spent a lot of time with his grandfather. “My dad wasn’t around a lot when I was growing up, so Johnny was both a grandpa and a father figure to me. He was who I went to when I needed help or when something was wrong.” It wasn’t long before a love of music and creating it, became a passion for Thomas. “Growing up, he would show me chords, listen to music I’d written, and ask me about the songs I wrote. I would watch his live shows and if I had a question about how he did something, he’d show me. He was always real supportive”.
Thomas Gabriel’s debut album, LONG WAY HOME, was released in 2018. The songs are swampy, bluesy, redemptive and vulnerable, covering his drug addiction on ‘Slipping Away’, his prison time on the tracks ‘1-9-7-4’ and ‘Cell’ and how a broken soul can be renewed by love with ‘Come to Me’. It’s been a rough road… a road less travelled, but when you meet Thomas Gabriel you’ll soon learn that each and every twist and turn has taken him from the lowest of valleys to the highest of mountain tops. His song writing is always personal and his stories are always amazing. “I love performing live. When I sing one of my songs, I put everything that went into creating it into the performance. If I am singing one of Johnny’s songs, then I channel how I felt when I heard him do it.”.
“He sounds strikingly similar to his famous grandfather, especially when he’s singing one of Johnny Cash’s big hits like “Ring of Fire,” but Thomas Gabriel has a style all his own. And it’s taken him almost 45 years to find it.” – Forbes Magazine
“Thomas Gabriel takes you through an autobiography of a very turbulent, incarcerated, addiction-riddled life with an eerie connectivity and continuation of the Johnny Cash story.” – Saving Country Music
