Rockin’ on the Mon Riverfest to heat up the aquatorium

Sponsored by the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency the third annual event is set for June 20.

By MATT PETRAS
For the MVI

The third annual Rockin’ on the Mon RiverFest returns to the Noble J. Dick Aquatorium on June 20 featuring headliner Thomas Gabriel, the grandson of Johnny Cash, along with openers Dushane and Walkin’ Rosie.

Tickets for the event are $10, and gates open at 3 p.m. DuShane, a country rock band, plays at 4 p.m., wide-ranging cover band Walkin’ Rosie, begins at 5:45 p.m. and Gabriel begins at 7:30 p.m.

Generally, the RiverFest, sponsored by the Washington County Tourism Promotion Agency, kicks off the Aquatorium’s annual Rockin’ on the Mon lineup of shows, but this year, due to the Army Corps of Engineers work, that summer concert series will not happen, according to event organizer Tanya Chaney. The construction is intended to extend the lower deck, she said.

Chaney said the Aquatorium plans to host the River-Fest on the full stage on the lower deck by the river as per usual, so long as construction hasn’t yet begun.

Additionally, the RiverFest will feature food trucks and vendors familiar to those who come to Aquatorium shows, including pizza from The Wooden Peel and lemonade from The Lavish Lemon.

It excites Shannon Schumaker, another organizer of the event, that country singer Gabriel will headline the event.

“I hate to put him in the shadow of his grandfather, because as an artist himself, I’ve listened to his stuff now, and he is a unique artist himself,” Schumaker said. “However, he does have that Johnny Cash sound that is so nostalgic and really, really awesome to listen to.”

Gabriel looks forward to the Aquatorium show because of its outdoors location and his prior positive experiences playing in Pennsylvania, he told the Mon Valley Independent.

“Pennsylvania has always been really good to me… it’s one of my favorite places to go,” Gabriel said. “Strangely, Pennsylvania and West Virginia seem to be some bigger sells with my fans. I’m just looking forward to being back in Pennsylvania, to be honest with you. I’ve never had an experience there that I didn’t enjoy.”

Gabriel writes and performs original music in the realm of rock and country. He describes his music as “dark country,” meaning country that’s a bit heavier and edgier. He has an LP coming soon with new songs. It excites him so much that he has already played tracks from it at live shows. He typically plays some Johnny Cash songs, which he considers to be a continuance of a family business rather than covers.

“Usually the crowd that comes to see me, I’m blessed to say that most of them are there to see me, but there’s also a part of that crowd that very much miss him, like I do, very much miss my grandfather and love hearing the continuance of his music,” Gabriel said. “So I realized that it would feel incomplete if I didn’t do some family songs.”

Fans have noted that his singing voice often sounds eerily similar to his grandfather’s. Gabriel said that is sometimes true but that he’s actually a bit deeper and sometimes has a hard time with Johnny Cash songs that require a higher register. As a teenager, he struggled with figuring out how to be himself, but when he let himself do that, the voice came naturally, he said.

“So, my voice being a part of that, when I just embraced my natural tone, it just came out that way,” Gabriel said. “It’s just my natural voice, my natural tone. I don’t ever try to sound like him. I don’t try to sound any other way either. I just put out what I naturally have.”

Gabriel comes to shows with loose setlists and changes course as necessary given the energy of a given crowd, he said. That’s the plan with the upcoming show at the Aquatorium.

“We come out with what we know and what we do, and then that merges with the energy with the crowd,” Gabriel said. “I don’t remember the last time I walked off stage and went, ‘oh wow, that could have been better.’ It’s always exactly what it needs to be, it seems like.”