By MARIA SHERMAN (AP Music Writer)
With the help of AI, the country music star Randy Travis, known for his classic songs such as “Forever and Ever, Amen” and “I Told You So,” now has his singing voice back.
In July 2013, Travis was hospitalized with viral cardiomyopathy, a virus that affects the heart, and later suffered a stroke. The Country Music Hall of Famer had to relearn how to walk, spell and read in the years that followed.Due to a condition called aphasia, which limits his ability to speak, his wife Mary Travis assists him in interviews. This is also why he hasn’t released new music until now. “Where That Came From,” a rich acoustic ballad, was released on Friday, and features Travis’ distinctive and soulful vocal tone.. A Cris Lacy, co-president of Warner Music Nashville, proposed the idea of using AI to recreate Randy's voice. Mary Travis conveyed their excitement about the idea. Mary Travis mentioned that all she wanted since Randy's stroke was to hear his voice again.
In order to start the process, Lacy enlisted developers in London to create a specialized AI model. The result: two models containing vocal samples from Travis' career. Lacy and Lehning chose “Where That Came From” as the song to work with, believing it best captured the uniqueness of Travis’ vocal style.
According to Mary Travis, Cris Lacy proposed the idea of using AI to recreate Randy's voice. Randy was enthusiastic about the concept.
Jameesa bunch of the voice since cars combined into two different AI models with 12 and 42 virtual steps from Travis' music across years.
“I never even thought about another song,” Lehning said.
Once the demo vocal was input into the AI models, it took about five minutes to analyze. The result was impressive right from the start, about 70-75% of what you hear now.
Kyle Lehning, Travis’ longtime producer, and engineer Casey Wood, who worked closely with Travis over the years, made alterations to the AI recording to enhance its authenticity.
Lehning mentions that they made adjustments to elements like vibrato speed, and pacing of phrases, to reflect Travis' laid-back and soulful singing style.
His vocal performance on “Where That Came From” needed to capture this quality.
Lehning describes the AI recording process as emotional and a testament to the human effort involved in the project, setting it apart from unethical uses of AI in music.
Randy's wife remembered the first time he heard the completed song. He was surprised and then very thoughtful, listening and studying. Then he put his head down and his eyes got a little watery, going through every emotion in those three minutes of hearing his voice again.
Lacy agrees. She says it's beautiful because they're using a familiar voice that the world knows and has been comforted by.
But on a human level, it's a very real need. Losing the voice of someone you were connected to is a big loss, and having it back is a wonderful gift.
They also hope that this song will help people understand the positive potential of AI, rather than the fraudulent activities that often grab headlines. Mary Travis hopes that this will set a standard where artists have control over their work and receive proper credit.
Last month, over 200 artists
signed an open letter
submitted by the Artist Rights Alliance non-profit, calling on artificial intelligence tech companies, developers, platforms, digital music services and platforms to stop using AI “to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.” The co-signers included Stevie Wonder , Miranda Lambert, Billie Eilish, Peter Frampton, , Smokey Robinson and J Balvin., Nicki MinajSo, now that “Where That Came From” is here, will there be more original Randy Travis songs in the future? Katy Perry“There may be others,” says Mary Travis. “We’ll see where this goes. This is such a foreign territory. There’s likely more on the horizon.”
“We do have other tracks,” says Lacy, but Warner Music is being as selective. “This isn’t a stunt, and it’s not a parlor trick,” she added. “It was important to have a song worthy of him.”
This story has been updated to correct one instance of the song title “Where That Came From,” instead of “What That Came From.”
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Country music star Randy Travis now has his voice back thanks to artificial intelligence. After his health challenges, including a stroke, he hasn't released new music in over a decade. But now, “Where That Came From” is a new composition created using an AI model built from vocal samples across his career. Randy's wife, Mary Travis, expressed her excitement at hearing his voice again after all this time.
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