James E. Akenson
Tennessee Tech University (Retired)
Cookeville, Tennessee, U.S.A
Going back to the future with Michael J. Fox? No. I’m going back to the future in my undergraduate days at the University of Minnesota. Let’s ask the questions. What does a quirky, eccentric, far-out Professor from the University of Minnesota have to do with Country Music? What does a World History course that mentioned British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey…and was on the midterm…have to do with Country Music?
Grey had serious reservations about the outcomes World War 1 would bring. Even brings to mind In Flanders Fields. In these turbulent times some folks feel that Artificial Intelligence (Ai) may be threatening the foundations on which Country Music rests. The loss of jobs and the loss of authenticity of the artist and message of the song seems like serious stuff.
From 1948 to 1982 University of Minnesota Political Science Professor Mulford Q. Sibley tilted at all sorts of windmills that the mainstream disliked. I never had Sibley in a Political Science class even though I minored in Political Science. I vividly remember, though, that he had concerns about automation and the elimination of jobs. Reminds me of the fate of the buggy whip makers.
Even our Ai friend knows Mulford Q. Sibley.
Mulford Q. Sibley (1912–1989) was a noted Quaker pacifist and political science professor at the University of Minnesota. In his critique of unchecked technological progress, he expressed concern that automation would lead to dystopian realities, mass worker alienation, and global labor crises unless society drastically decentralized work and prioritized human needs over efficiency.”
That sounds like the concerns that Ai brings to the Country Music table. Will it eliminate jobs and destroy the authenticity of Country Music while it makes it easier to produce Country Music? How much Ai in Country Music is dangerous?
Let’s relate the issue to dating before the pill. Years ago, a young woman who gave in to her carnal desires, or the desires of a male companion, might tell her parents that she “is a little bit pregnant.” That, of course, was in the good old days of Sexual Purity Trauma. Boys might be boys, but it was particularly sinful and shameful for a young woman to give into the lusts of the flesh prior to marriage.
So what does this bit of 1950s Sexual Purity Trauma nonsense have to do with Country Music here in the third decade of the hip, liberated twenty-first century? Well Artificial Intelligence (Ai) like loose morals has been unleashed with a J Curve vengeance. Even the ‘Lady Redneck”….Ella Langley knows she’s from Texas….shows some Ai touches as she proclaims postings with Conservative Evangelical Protestant messages.
Ai causes discussion and anxiety in Country Music. The big question is simple. Just how much Ai is acceptable in the persona, lyrics, melody, instrumentation, management, and promotion for a Country Music artist to be authentic? Is it none? Is it some? Is it half? Is it more than half? How would you measure Ai and authenticity? Or…if you don’t know Ai helped generate the lyrics or the melody would the song and the artist be authentic?
What if the video is Ai enhanced yet it showed country images common to conventional videos. Would it be authentic? And…if it promises to be much less expensive particularly for a new, struggling artist what’s the problem? If Ai can distribute the music effectively to lots of platforms or book gigs…does it matter if managerial jobs disappear?
Can you use a little bit of Ai and still be an authentic Country Music artist? BMI “No Fakes” support of the Human Artistry Campaign supports careful use of Ai. The key principle states “Human-First: AI should be used to elevate human artistry, not replace.” it. For some, even careful protections of Ai use will cross a line. Country Music artist Grey Delisle posted “I used to comment on Ai generated posts, flyers, and avatars…but now I don’t. I just quietly unfollow. They are so insulting to my artistic sensibilities. I can’t bear to give them even one iota of my eyeball energy.”
Let’s take a look at some Ai in Country Music. Ava Bently, a real human, but disabled vocally for singing. Ai makes it possible for her to be a Country Music artist. She makes no bones that she is an Ai generated artist. Are you an Ava Bently’s fan? Then you believe an Ai generated artist is authentic and her music is authentic Country Music.
Without the adaptive, assistive qualities of Ai, Ava Bently couldn’t perform as a Country Music artist. “Ava has always been open about who and what she is: the world’s first female AI-powered country artist, created through an AI platform in partnership with Nashville’s creative community. She doesn’t pretend to be human.” But…she is human.
Let’s think a touch more. Do you believe that assistive, adaptive devices are appropriate for giving the disabled productive lives? I do, too. Ava Bently makes it interesting, and maybe a touch difficult. If she is disabled vocally then how could we not approve of Ai adaptive technology to let her sing?
If she isn’t disabled in other ways, should Ai be used to create the lyrics, instrumentation, and videos? Just what is real. Ai says “She turned to AI tools to reclaim her voice and continue telling her stories. She crafts the lyrics, shapes melodies, and inputs ideas into AI platforms to produce fully realized tracks.”
Ava Bentley’s Back To Tennessee video looks like the ‘real deal’ to me. It has all the signifiers you could want. Didn’t Jimmie Rodgers, “The Father of Country Music,” sing T For Texas. T For Tennessee? Back To Tennessee uses both states. It’s a traditional breakup, a failing relationship. There is a Honky Tonk setting. Should it include a stand up mike and a small stage, a dance floor, neon signs, a bar? Got it.
Does it need cowboy hats, cowboy boots, denim skirts, jeans, and straight couples dancing? Got it. Need a pick-up truck? Got it. How about some shots of the Texas plains, fences, and cattle? Got it. Maybe a sly reference to Hank with I saw the light should be included? Got it. Since alcohol is involved how about mentioning a prominent brand? Instead of Jack for Ella how about Crown for Ava? Got it.
Maybe end with a shot of East Tennessee ridges and valleys plus a shot of Broadway and Tootsies? Got it. It’s easy to think that Ava Bently and Back To Tennessee is authentic Country Music. Didn’t the Ai adaptive technology give her the ‘voice’ she lost in her vocal surgery accident?
There’s another authentic dimension to Ava Bently. She wrote and performed a Dolly tribute song O Dolly. Country Music is full of songs with references to artists and songs that have been iconic. Tex Ritter’s Hillbilly Heaven or George Jones’ Whose Gonna Fill Their Shoes”should be reference enough. Yes. “Whose gonna play the Opry and the Wabash Cannonball?” Is Ava Bently giving her heart and soul to get to you and me?
Maybe not because it is Ai generated? But, it seems that Ava Bently genuinely loves Country Music and reveres Dolly. Given her disability, the lyrics she creates, isn’t it an authentic performance? It still takes a lot of thought and work to create the Ai Country Music.
Joe Nichole, like Ava Bently, is real. Nichols shared Ai thoughts on A Taste Of Country and is quoted by Saving Country Music. Nichols says it’s ‘bull crap” if artists say they’re not using Suno. Nichols admits to using Suno for his latest release Say La V. He wrote the song , but “put it into Suno to spit out a demo they could then send to Nichols and other prospective performers while pitching them to record it. Nichols modified the sound to be more country.”
He also uses Suno to try different sounds for a song. Should it be Bluegrass, Gospel, or something else. Nichols even uses the word algorithm, Suno helps him see ‘blind spots.”This doesn’t touch other Ai issues such as copyright and “universally proposed labeling.” Can Ai use lyrics without paying copyright fees? If even some of a song is Ai generated should it be disclosed?
Once again let’s go back to Professor Mulford Q. Sibley in my undergraduate days at the University of Minnesota. Ai might also jeopardize a set of jobs that gave the industry it’s character…artists, musicians, managers, agents, and who knows what else. Ai may destroy authenticity. Ai tends to view itself in a strictly positive light. At least that’s what happened when I asked CartoMind to take this article and convert it to a graphic. Note that the graphic came out exclusively positive. We might say that Ai does it ‘The Company Way.’ None of the concerns in this piece made it into the graphic.
John Lancaster suggested in The London Review of Books four main scenarios regarding the impact of Ai. The most likely scenario Lancaster suggests, is called “normal technology.” Lancaster cites “…forms of inequality are already being magnified by Ai…” and mentions the elimination of entry level jobs. For Country Music the fear is that far more than entry level jobs will be eliminated.
Remember the buggy whip makers mentioned earlier? We will await the impact of Ai to see if their fate will be duplicated in Country Music. In the meantime, Ai will likely increasingly infiltrate Country Music. Let’s hope that the naysayers prove wrong. Let’s hope that Ai generates jobs and Country Music retains its identity, its authenticity speaking to the lives experienced by its audience.
The Ai J Curve seems to be an unstoppable force. Will the alarm bells created by the Ai ‘offensive’ prove true? If the ‘normal technology’ model applies then there could well be unpleasant outcomes exactly as predicted. In early 1900s London, predictions said there would be several feet of manure covering city streets. By the 1930s there wasn’t any manure on London city streets.
A different technology changed predicted outcomes. Will a different technology or reaction to Ai technology change the anticipated outcomes for Country Music? Perhaps. It is reasonable, though, to feel concern that the Ai juggernaut J Curve could negatively impact Country Music.
On August 3, 1914 as World War 1 began, British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey looked out his office window at dusk. Gray stated “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.” May Country Music not experience an equivalent fate that justified Sir Edward Grey’s fears for Europe.
In country fields, may artists or other profesionals never lie amongst the algorithms row on row. May the Irish blessing fall upon Country Music. “May a human creative wind blow upon your back as the road of daily life and trials rise to meet you. May life’s themes gently fall upon the fields where you labor. And may authenticity hold you always in the palm of its hand.”
Time will tell. Time will tell.
