If you've spent any time on YouTube lately, there's at least a decent chance you've stumbled across Thomas Gabriel, Johnny Cash's grandson.
That’s what happened to me.
I watched him jam to some of his grandpa’s songs and all of them sounded just like him.
I mean, SPOT ON!
It was intoxicating.
I couldn’t stop watching his videos.
That’s why I was so thrilled to have the chance to talk with him, along with Chet Roberts and other members of the 4th Door Media team yesterday.
Thomas now lives right down the road from Chet, so the two were hanging out at Chet’s home studio, just catching up on life.
They had met years ago—even attended rival high schools. They started making music together back in the day and are now looking to pick up where they left off.
Life gets busy, right?
Our team was so interested in Thomas’s story that we asked him so many questions I’m surprised he didn’t feel like he was being interrogated!
He was incredibly gracious with his time as we talked about everything from second chances, life and death experiences, creativity, life’s purpose, and what comes next.
Though he’s incredibly proud of his family heritage, he’s not sitting around trying to ride on his grandpa’s coattails.
He’s been building a variety of projects that are entirely his own.
He shared updates on several exciting projects currently in the works, including his third studio album, continuing to front The Tennessee Four, and making his acting debut as King Ahab in an upcoming film based on the story of Jonah.
He said they were looking for a bid scary looking guy.
He joked, “They chose the right guy.”
His schedule is packed.
So the fact that he made time for us was deeply appreciated.
I also had no idea that he is on the cusp of releasing his first children’s coloring book, expected to launch in the coming days.
The book grew out of his popular Monday Motivations series on Facebook and was inspired by lessons from his own sobriety journey.
Rather than writing another autobiography or self-help book, Thomas wanted to create something families could enjoy together while quietly encouraging hope, resilience, and positive choices before life has a chance to take young people in the wrong direction.
We also talked about the future.
Though we can’t get into too much detail right now, he may be collaborating with Chet and the 4th Door team very soon.
We even talked about the possibility of rediscovering older, unfinished songs and documenting the creative process as Thomas and Chet bring them back to life.
How fun would that be?
There was also lots of laughter.
Lots.
And yes, rubber chickens even entered the conversation, because of course they did.
What really impressed me though, was Thomas’s humility.
He’s authentically and refreshingly open about his struggles, passionate about encouraging others, and genuinely excited to create meaningful work.
Whether he’s making music, acting, writing books, or speaking to audiences about recovery and faith, his focus remains on making a positive impact wherever he goes.
We’d like to invite you to join Thomas and the 4th Door crew as he joins us for our live YouTube broadcast Tuesday, June 30th, at 8:00 p.m. Central, where we’ll dive deeper into his new projects, the coloring book release, life after addiction, music, family legacy, and plenty of stories you won’t hear anywhere else.
It’s gonna be fun.
Fun.
That’s something Tuesdays aren’t necessarily known for.
Let’s change that together.
Here’s the link to join the party:
https://www.youtube.com/@fourthdoormedia
We hope you’ll head over to our page right now, like the channel, and subscribe.
That way when Tuesday gets here, you’ll be ready to rock.
Hope to see you live Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. Central!
That is really cool!!