Randy Travis Sings Again With Help of AI: ‘Everything I Prayed For’

Published: May 8, 2024

Randy Travis Sings Again With Help of AI: ‘Everything I Prayed For’

By Movieguide® Contributor

In 2013, Christian country star Randy Travis suffered a stroke that impaired his ability to speak and sing. Now, he’s making music in a different way.

He didn’t sing his new single, called “Where That Came From,” in the traditional sense. “Instead, the vocals were created with AI software and a surrogate singer,” The Verge reported on May 6.

Movieguide® reported on May 3:

Country star Randy Travis is getting ready to release his first single since his 2013 stroke, a song called, “Where That Came From.”

“It’s been a while since my last new recording, but I’m excited to share that this Friday, May 3, I will be releasing my first brand new studio recording in more than a decade, ‘Where That Came From,’” Travis posted on Instagram.

He continued, “You’ll hear much more about the special team of folks who came together to help make this magical moment in my career possible in the coming week. In the meantime, just know that when it comes to me singing songs for you, there’s always more where that came from. Thank you for singing along all these years.”

In 2013, Travis thought he’d never sing again. Now, he’s grateful that there’s a way he can still share his voice.

He said in a recent statement, “…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. Working with [longtime producer] Kyle Lehning and Warner Music Nashville again has been so special and nostalgic, and I’m so excited to share my new song ‘Where That Came From’ with you today. Many thanks to my wonderful team and the best fans in the world for putting me back in the saddle again! I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.”

“Don’t knock it ’til you try it,” the singer said about AI on the “Bobby Bones Show” on May 6. “I’ve been skeptical of technology my whole life but given this opportunity, I figured why not give it a shot, and we’ve been pleased with the results. It’s encouraging to me finally getting a chance to sing again just in a different way.”

Travis’s long-time producer, Kyle Lehning, also felt skeptical about using AI to help Travis sing again.

“I just didn’t know what to think of it, and, you know, it’s one thing to have an idea, and then it’s another thing to actually hear the result,” he said. “But the main thing was that Randy and Mary [Travis’s wife], when given the opportunity, were positive about giving it a try, and so that’s all I really needed to hear. If they were in into doing it, then I would do everything I could to be helpful.”

“Just the fact that it works was astounding to me,” he continued. “I didn’t know what to expect when I first heard it and…I was stunned when I first heard the playback even though it wasn’t 100% ready to go, but it was impressive.”

A company in England developed the software that created Travis’s AI voice. Lehning sent the company 42 vocal tracks of Travis’s voice from 1985 up to 2013.

“Two months later after they got them, they called, said, ‘We think we have something for you to hear,’ and that’s when they sent the model.”

Travis’s wife, Mary, cried when she first heard Travis’s AI voice.

“I just burst out in tears, I mean, just because 11 years of not hearing that voice, which I think is the greatest voice in the world, and…as it was developing, we had no idea how it would turn out,” she said. “So when I heard it in its entirety and upon its completion, it was the greatest moment in the last 11 years. Everything I prayed for was just to hear his voice, and this is a different way of hearing his voice, but it’s clearly his voice.”

She explained there are a lot of negative things done with AI. For example, artists’ vocals are used to create songs without permission. But in this circumstance, it’s a good thing. AI gives Travis his voice back.

“It’s not fair to say that you can’t do that because nobody has walked in Randy’s shoes as far as being one of the greatest country artists of all time—vocalist—and then to lose that because of something like a stroke,” Mary explained. “For him to want to…continue to do music, I think is something that…is a nice way to use AI.”

“The way we’ve been able to use it is very exciting to me, and, you know, I’m all in favor of it as long as we can make music that feels like Randy Travis when we’re doing it,” Lehning said. “And I think that’s the most important thing is that there’s something that feels authentic when you’re doing it.”