Randy Travis' new song “Where That Came From” demonstrates AI's power to unlock creative expression ... [+]
Country music legend Randy Travis, who’s largely been unable to speak or sing since a devastating stroke in 2013, is crooning again with help from artificial intelligence.
On Friday, Travis released a new song called “Where That Came From,” made using an AI version of his voice trained on past audio tracks. It’s a smooth, midtempo tune about lost love and Travis’ first new song since the stroke left him with severe aphasia, a disorder caused by damage to the side of the brain that controls speech and language.
“Eleven years ago I never thought I would be able to have a hand in music production of any kind, but by God’s grace and the support of family, friends, fellow artists and fans, I’m able to create the music I so dearly love,” Travis shared in a Facebook post on Thursday.
Artists have had mixed reactions to generative AI—enthusiasm about its creative potential, but also concern it will steal their work to train datasets or possibly alter the very nature of creativity. Travis’ song, however, demonstrates AI’s power to unlock creative expression for people living with disabilities, and fans have overwhelmingly met it with joy, praise and appreciation.
“To hear his voice again is a miracle,” one wrote in the YouTube comments section for the music video. “What a beautiful song!” Wrote another, “It doesn’t matter if it’s AI, if it’s voice cloning, etc. This is Randy’s voice in one form or another; you can hear the authenticity regardless of how this was created and I love it.”
Fellow country music stars have also embraced the technologically aided tune. “Randy Travis’ voice is like a hug from an old friend and a voice that has been so greatly missed,” said singer James Dupré, who joined the project as a “surrogate” voice. His recorded vocals provided a kind of musical scaffolding, with the AI program overlaying them with Travis’ reconstructed voice.
“It has been an absolute honor to be a part of helping to lay the foundation for bringing his voice back to the world, to his fans, and most importantly, to Randy,” Dupré wrote on Instagram.
“She had eyes like diamonds and they caught the light,” the Country Music Hall of Famer sings in his new heartbreaker. “Ah but they were dark and deeper than the night. But when she smiles out came the sun, and there ain’t no more where that came from.”
Travis, 65, rose to prominence in the 1980s with his best-selling debut album Storms of Life. He went platinum with his first album and was the first debuting country artist to achieve multiplatinum status.
Travis “became the de facto leader of a handful of tradition-minded artists who dramatically changed the course of country music’s evolution beginning in 1986,” reads a Country Music Hall of Fame’s description of the artist. “Travis’ understated traditional vocal twang and square-jawed sex appeal endeared him both to hard-country loyalists and to millions of fans beyond country’s core boundaries.”
Travis recorded “Where That Came From” with producer Kyle Lehning, his longtime musical collaborator, and Warner Music Nashville.
"There's just so much chatter about all the negative sides of AI,” Cris Lacy, co-chair and president of Warner Music Nashville, said in a CBS News Sunday Morning segment on the new song. "We started with this concept of, 'What would AI… look like for us?'” The first thing that sprung to mind, according to Lacy: “We would give Randy Travis his voice back."
