Throughout his decades on the stage, Randy Travis proved himself to be in a league of his own. The music icon has produced over 20 studio albums and had over 50 singles land on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. That is just the start of his fame as he won several Grammy Awards, ACM Awards, and even gained a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sadly, the country icon suffered a stroke in 2013. And since that moment, his main focus has been his health. Now, thanks to the rise of AI, the country star is back in the studio. His new hit song “Where That Came From” dropped on May 3.
Videos by American Songwriter
Already climbing the charts, “Where That Came From” gained high praise from fans as the music video received nearly 500,000 views. Although using AI to bring Travis’ voice back to the studio, Scotty Emerick and John Scott Sherrill wrote the song. Marking the first time Travis hit the charts since his duet with Carrie Underwood in 2009 called “I Told You So”, many shared their thoughts on use of AI.
Appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience, Mike Baker and Rogan discussed the new song and the rise of AI. “Randy Travis is using AI now to make new songs because he was paralyzed by a stroke, but because they could take his voice, which is an iconic voice… Randy Travis has an incredible voice, but because of AI, they could get recordings of him singing, and he could plug it into AI and he can still make songs.”
Zach Bryan Shares His Concerns About AI Helping Randy Travis
Adding his voice to the conversation, country singer Zach Bryan posted a message on Twitter, detailing how many singers don’t write their own songs. “Some people are so shocked and offended by the Randy Travis AI song when most artists haven’t written their own song a day in their life.” Happy for Travis, Bryan further discussed the technology being used within the music industry. “My main concern is when we’re going to start doing cool things with it like have Johnny Cash on a Beastie Boys song or feature Bob Dylan with Beyoncé.”
With celebrities and singers weighing in on the AI discussion, fans seemed happy with just having a new song from Travis. One fan wrote, “As an IT professional, AI is scary and I hate what it can do. But for Randy, I absolutely love this. This is how AI should be used. Randy was 100% involved with this, had his blessing, gave him his voice back and gave fans a new song. Randy has been through hell and back with his health, I truly hope this song wins him awards. You can see the joy and happiness in his face this brings him, and that’s priceless.”
(Photos via David A. Smith/Getty Images, Rob Kim/Getty Images, and Jason Kempin/Getty Images).
