JACKSON, Miss.—In 2021, Tony Gilmer was grieving the loss of his grandmother, who passed away from a heart attack, an incident in which he, as a firefighter and EMT, had to operate on her. In the midst of later processing his emotions, he woke up one day and determined he needed to find something constructive to do. Working out was not cutting it anymore, and he was struggling to think of anything that could help him cope.
A few weeks later, an old high-school classmate and music artist Neicey Mo reached out to him and invited him to her music-video set. Since he was off work that day, he decided to swing by. At the shoot, the two began talking about music with Gilmer informing Mo that he had been considering a career in the industry.
“What would you think if I were the producer of the sound?” he asked her.
Necey Mo knew of Gilmer’s musical background from his time singing in choir as a kid through college to his love of classical music like that of Bach and Beethoven. Growing up, Gilmer’s parents and siblings played a variety of genres in the home that influenced him, including R&B, funk, hip-hop and boy band.
“Yeah, I think you should give it a shot,” she replied after some thought.
Encouraged by her affirming words, the firefighter went out and bought an old drum machine and used his iPad to produce his first song. At first, he lacked confidence in his knowledge and ability, but he overcame his hesitation and released the song, which received positive reactions from his family and friends.
“People was like, ‘This is not bad,’ and I think in that moment for me it was like, ‘What if I was to really get better at this? What if I learned this? What if I really invested time in it? Ain’t no telling how far it can go,’” Gilmer told the Mississippi Free Press.
“That’s when it finally clicked for me.”
‘Full Circle’
In the year since Gilmer started producing under the name TG-18, he has released nine