'Growing up Cash' with Thomas Gabriel in Manorhamilton

Singer-songwriter Thomas Gabriel has lived out the stories his grandfather Johnny Cash sang about and his is bringing his tour to The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton.

Giving Irish audiences a very personal and intimate glimpse into his life growing up with Johnny & June, with his brand new acoustic show . He plays The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton on October 27.

In January 1968, 'The Man in Black', Johnny Cash took to the stage at Folsom State Prison to deliver an electrifying show. The performance was captured on a live album released just four months later, topping the charts, revitalising the maverick country star’s career and selling more than three million copies on its way to becoming an all-time classic.
Fifty years later, in 2018, singer-songwriter Thomas Gabriel was following in his grandfather’s footsteps at the infamous California prison.

But for Thomas, who had grown up around these songs, and was finally getting his own music career off the ground in his 40s, it took playing behind the prison’s walls to fully appreciate their legacy.
Given Thomas’s family history, it is almost no surprise that he is a living distillation of numerous hard-living country music tropes – there had been trouble with drink and drugs, with the law, and with women.
And hearing him sing, genetics have given him his grandfather's voice.
He released his debut ‘Long Way Home’ in 2018, his new collection, ‘The Treehouse Sessions’, came out in 2021 and he is touring the Ireland this autumn.

The eldest of Cash’s grandchildren – he is the son of Kathy, one of the four daughters from Cash’s first marriage, to Vivian Liberto. Kathy had Thomas at just 16, and he grew up with the singer (by now married to June Carte) often taking on a parental role.
Being the eldest grandchild, Thomas was close to his grandfather, and remembers him fondly as supportive presence.
“What he put on stage and what he gave to his fans, was not a facade – that was him.
“He had the courage to put himself out there and he didn't hide anything – that was part of him. Then there was the private side of him that was extremely down to earth,” he says.
Thomas was keen to follow in the family trade as a musician.

His grandfather let Thomas use his studio, but while Cash believed he showed promise, he also urged the younger man to have a fallback plan.
Thomas became a police officer in Nashville, but in an unrelated incident he ended up going to prison. Thomas actually wrote most of what became his deeply autobiographical debut while still behind bars.
The new EP, ‘Treehouse Sessions’, features seven stripped-back, acoustic tracks. In the studio with just guitar and vocals, he had been planning to rehearse some new material, but decided to try something different.
Thomas had planned to be on the road for much of 2020, which of course never happened due to the pandemic.
“Of course I'm not the only one, everyone I know in the business, it's put a huge dent in all of our plans. We had another album we were working on, so it sidelined all of that.

“It turned out to be a good thing, though, because I got a lot of writing done, and was able to start a bunch of other projects.
“It gave me time to reflect, it gave me time to write, it gave me time to really dive into some things that I would never have had the opportunity to do if I was touring,” he explained.
The pandemic also helped Thomas keep clean and sober.
Songs & Stories with Thomas Gabriel, Growing Up Cash, is at Glens Centre, Manorhamilton on October 27. Tickets €15 from www.theglenscentre.com  or 071 985 5833.