You’ll do a double-take when you hear Johnny Cash’s sound-alike grandson.

It’s not uncommon for the children of famous singers or performers to follow in their parents’ or grandparents’ footsteps and join the “family business” themselves.  A few examples are Loretta Lynn’s granddaughter Tayla, Waylon Jennings’ son Shooter, and Toby Keith’s daughter Krystal.  Most of them have some advantages over the average new artist – usually, their parents have connections, and the child already knows the pros and cons of the industry from first-hand knowledge.

While many children of country music artists have followed in the family business of music, very few of them actually sound like their already-famous relatives.  However, there is an exception in Johnny Cash’s family.  All of his daughters have been involved in the music industry in some shape or form, and his son John Carter Cash is also a singer and producer.

Johnny Cash’s oldest grandchild is his daughter Kathy’s son, Thomas Gabriel.  Like most first grandchildren, Thomas had a very deep, special bond with his grandfather.  Unsurprisingly, Johnny’s love of music rubbed off on his oldest grandchild.  When Johnny was still alive, he would often bring young Thomas up onto stage with him to have him sing “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

When Thomas was twenty-one, Johnny discovered that Thomas’s voice sounded very much like his when he had been younger.  He encouraged Thomas to take advantage of it, telling him: “Son, you sound a lot like I did when I was younger; work on those vocals.”  Young Thomas took his grandfather’s advice and worked hard on his vocals, and it paid off.

Watch the video of his grandson below singing that same song.

Thomas worked on one song in particular that his grandfather had sung.  One of the most well-known songs that Johnny Cash released was “Folsom Prison Blues.”  It’s crazy how similar Thomas’ and Johnny’s voices are.

This clip of Thomas singing was recorded at a private event in 2018. Even though the vocals are nearly identical to Johnny’s, it’s nice to hear a fresh take on the musical arrangement for the song that is often synonymous with Johnny Cash.