ABOUT THOMAS GABRIEL

Let’s cut right to the chase: Singer songwriter Thomas Gabriel is the eldest grandson of the legendary Johnny Cash. And yes, he sounds a lot like him when he sings. While you could say Thomas had a front row seat to one of the greatest and most influential musicians ever, if you dig a little deeper and you’ll see there’s a lot more about Thomas Gabriel than a famous grandfather.

Growing up in the ‘fishbowl of famous,’ Thomas Gabriel wasn’t really sure what to make of everyone who called his grandfather by his first name. “When I was little, I just thought my grandfather had a whole lot of friends, but I didn’t understand that he was famous. In about the fourth or fifth grade it dawned on me that while everyone knew who he was, he didn’t know any of them back.”

Living near Hendersonville, TN, close to Nashville, 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. He wrote his first song in the second grade and started to pay a lot of attention to how people were making music. “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.”

Though getting to send time on the road with Johnny was an amazing education, a predilection for wanting to escape his own thoughts led Thomas down a dark path. By the time he was 11 years old, he was drinking heavily, sneaking vodka in to school, and going to the Studio with Johnny so he could drink beers out of the fridge. “My grandfather knew what was going on; he did not embarrass me publicly, but afterwards, there was always a consequence to pay.” Unfortunately, the consequences didn’t deter Thomas from ramping up to drug use, along with his drinking, and he spent his teen years pretending to be something he wasn’t – sober.

When he was 21 years old, Thomas Gabriel went in to Johnny’s studio and cut a 5-track demo. He gave Johnny the music and waited for feedback. While Johnny praised the demo, and the voice that sounded so much like his own, he also knew how difficult the music business could be and wanted Thomas to have a Plan B. “He said, ‘I don’t want you to put everything into music quite yet. You’re too young.’ I thought he’d tell me that it was terrific

and to get a producer, but that’s not what happened. He suggested I become a police officer, which I found laughable since I was doing a lot of things cops arrest you for!”

Taking his grandfather’s advice, Thomas Gabriel became an officer. While he liked the idea of being on the force, he was unable to stop experimenting with drugs, something that was a result of both genetics and a battle with depression and anxiety that Thomas had tried to hide his whole life. After 8 years on the police force, Thomas’ choices caught up with him and he was sent to prison.

Admittedly, Thomas Gabriel had lost his moral compass. His grandfather bailed him out often, but even he couldn’t keep up. Thomas attended the funeral of grandmother, June Cash, on a furlough with two armed guards. Seeing his dedication to family, Johnny bailed him out once more and told Thomas he wanted him to work for him. More than likely, it was so he could keep his eye on his grandson. Thomas Gabriel saw Johnny every day for three months until he passed away in 2003. “I know nothing was left unsaid between us. He was the wisest person I knew, so pretty much anything that came out of his mouth was worth hearing. Since he wasn’t much for small talk, the things that were said meant something. Getting to be around him, and seeing both sides of his life, was special.”

It took Thomas some more time to get himself on the right track, but that’s where he finds himself today. His songwriting, always personal, deals with loss, separation, isolation, and more. Even in the very dark times of his prison stint, Thomas Gabriel kept his sanity by doing what he’d been doing since he was 8 – writing songs. “When things are rough, I can pump out songs like no tomorrow. Maybe I am not as self-aware when I am happy, but I am always working on my songwriting. “

Thomas Gabriel’s first release, the aptly named LONG WAY HOME, was produced by Matthew Oxley. “We just went all in together. Everything Matthew came back with, I absolutely agreed with. I would tell him what I wanted, explain how I wrote a song, and what it meant to me, and every time he sent me back a rough mix, he got my intent exactly.” Songs on LONG WAY HOME are swampy, bluesy, redemptive and vulnerable, covering his drug addiction on “Slipping Away” his prison time on “1-9-7-4” and “Cell,” and how a broken soul can be renewed by love with “Come to Me.”

Next up for Thomas Gabriel – hitting the road, which is something he can’t wait to do. “I love performing live. If I sing one of my songs, I put everything that went in to creating it in to the performance. If I am singing one of Johnny’s songs, then I channel how I felt when I heard him do it.” He knows there are no shoes to fill (“they’re too big”) and is content to let people find him however they can – seeing him live, hearing him on the radio, or knowing he’s the grandson of Johnny Cash (or nephew of Roseanne Cash, who loved LONG WAY HOME and told him she’d never been prouder of him). As long as they listen, Thomas Gabriel is fine. “For me, the best compliment I can get is when someone tells me that my music has helped them through a hard time or touched their heart in some way. When I look in the audience and someone is singing my lyric back to me, that’s it. It’s the biggest thing by far.”