You hear a lot of noise in the music business. Hype. Buzz. The “next big thing” gets crowned every other week, especially when it’s a kid with a decent voice and a YouTube channel. Most of the time, it’s just that—noise. So when I heard a 13-year-old from Texas was playing a string of gigs in New York, I didn’t think much of it.
But one of those gigs was at The Bitter End.
Now, you have to understand something about that room. It’s a legend. It’s small, it’s dark, and the ghosts of pretty much everyone who ever mattered in music are still rattling around in there. You don’t just walk onto that stage – you have to earn it. And this kid, TommyG, steps up to the mic like he pays rent there.
He was fronting this band they’d put together for the Kids Rock for Kids festival. They called it Pangea, which sounds a little cheesy until you see the lineup. The drummer, Yoyoka Soma, is a force of nature they flew in from Japan. The kid on bass, Maximo Olmedo, came all the way from Chile and plays with more soul than guys three times his age. They had dueling guitars—one from Gibraltar, Aanika Pai, and a local kid from NYC, Bay Melnick Virgolino. It was this bizarre, brilliant international summit of young talent.
And in the middle of it all is TommyG. He’s not just singing – he’s performing. He’s connecting with the band, with the room, with the history on the walls. They’re playing rock anthems, and he’s belting them out with this mix of power and genuine joy. It was real.
So you think, okay, the kid’s a rocker. He’s found his lane. That’s his story.
Wrong. That was just July.
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In June, he wasn’t in some dingy rock club. He was at the Joffrey Ballet School. Yes, that Joffrey. He was deep in a three-week musical theater boot camp, doing jazz hands and tap routines, studying the biggest shows on Broadway. One minute he’s learning choreography from Wicked, the next he’s analyzing a performance of Hell’s Kitchen. They didn’t just stick him in the chorus, either. When they put on their version of The Lion King, he was Simba.
The same kid who was owning the stage at a legendary rock club was, weeks earlier, playing the lead in a Broadway classic. That kind of range is rare. It’s not something you can fake. It points to a different level of dedication, a real hunger to learn the craft, not just the cool parts.
So where does a kid like this even come from? Turns out, it started in the most ordinary way possible: in the family car in Katy, Texas. His older sister loved to sing, and he caught the bug from her. He started doing talent shows, the usual stuff. But he also had a dad who was all-in, helping him steer things, and teachers who saw the talent. He started playing the Opry circuit in places like Alvin, Texas, singing straight-up traditional country. We’re talking Vince Gill and Chris Stapleton. He was learning the roots, the storytelling.
That’s the secret, I think. The rock and roll swagger, the Broadway discipline, and the country soul—it’s all in there.
Look, the road for young artists is brutal. Hype fades. But this feels different. It’s about the work, the weird combination of skills, and the genuine love for all of it. I don’t know what’s next for TommyG. Nobody does. But for the first time in a long time, I’m not just hearing noise. I’m hearing music.
Do yourself a favor and keep an eye on this one. You can start here: @tommyg_ra
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