Robert Thomas has crafted songs for legends like Kenny Rogers, Bonnie Raitt and the Dixie Chicks. After four decades in the background as a staff songwriter, Thomas stepped into the spotlight as a performer in a major way in 2022/23 performing to 74 consecutive standing ovations across Canada, the U.S. and Europe, and garnering an East Coast Music Association nomination for “Entertainer of the Year” along the way.
Robert’s new acoustic single, the richly metaphorical “A River Runs Through,” was produced by JUNO Award-winner Catherine MacLellan and inspired by the idyllic beauty of the river country beside his home in Waterford, New Brunswick and, like his mentor Johnny Cash before him, the lateness of the hour in his own career and lifetime more generally.
This song is an expression of the profound gratitude I feel for the beauty and times I have experienced alone and with my two sons over a lifetime in the Waterford Valley. At the same time, it also gives voice to the daunting realization that my time will soon be at hand and that my river has almost reached the sea. I must say, there is a little trepidation about what comes next and, like Johnny Cash before me, I hope Gabriel’s horn is out there to guide us all home. – Robert Thomas