By Steven Hill - Entertainment Reporter for the Question.

When the deep and eerily familiar voice on the phone says, “Hello, this is… almost, Johnny Cash,” it takes a second to register that the person on the other end of the line is really Dave Pittet, and not the real Man in Black.  Pittet is the front man for Johnny Cash tribute band Big River,  . . . and his performance is hailed as a dead-on and convincing impersonation of the country music icon.  . . .  “Some people have come up to me after the concert and said they closed their eyes and it felt like Johnny Cash was on stage,” he said. “Which, of course, is a huge compliment.”   From Cash’s deep, baritone voice to his distinctive train-rhythm guitar style and even mannerisms and posture, Pittet  ...

                                                Walking Johnny Cash's line  -   Nanaimo musician earning praise for tribute to country legend

                                                By Jesse Ferreras

You can imitate, you can emulate, and then you can inhabit. Dave Pittet most certainly does the latter with Johnny Cash.  A Nanaimo musician, Pittet doesn't just play the songs of the Man in Black. For the past three years now he has worked his damndest to evoke the country/rock legend as lead singer of Almost Johnny Cash's Big River  . . .

The band is as much a musical performance as it is method acting, at least in the case of its frontman. With a gravelly, guttural voice that uncannily replicates Cash's, Pittet has put a mountain of effort into his performance. He has matched his hair, his posture and his clothing to his subject.

Most cover bands depend merely on nostalgia to draw an audience. Big River wants you to imagine the man is right there up on stage.

The central figure in Almost Johnny Cash’s Big River, Canada’s top Johnny Cash tribute band, David Pittet is one of the world’s leading, most convincing tribute artists in the music business . . .

     Cash disciple honours idol

                                                 Stella Stevens - Radio Host

                                                 790 CFCW

Big River is the premier Johnny Cash tribute band.  If you are fan of Johnny Cash music and lyrics you don’t want to miss these 4 guys pay  tribute …   close your eyes and you won’t be able to tell the difference! 

                                              By Roxanne Hooper

                                      Lisa Wilton - Sunmedia.ca

Dave Pittet always figured he'd end up being a country singer.  He just didn't know the country singer would be Johnny Cash.  The Vancouver Island-based vocalist has been performing under the pseudonym Almost Johnny Cash for the past two years and is already considered among the best Cash tribute acts in Canada. . . . Pittet does his best to look the part – black is the primary colour from his hair down to his shoes – but it's his uncanny vocal similarity to Cash that is most impressive.  Even when he talks, Pittet has the singer's low rumble down pat.

Big River is as close as you’re going to get to the real deal—until, that is, you get to heaven, where you’ll spend every day doing bourbon shots not only with Johnny but with June, probably while singing “Don’t Take Your Guns to Town”.