Where That Came From

Album: released as a single (2024)
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Songfacts®:

  • Randy Travis suffered a stroke in 2013 that made it impossible for him to sing at a professional level, so his voice on this track in generated by artificial intelligence (AI). His label, Warner Music Nashville, came up with the idea and enlisted his longtime producer, Kyle Lehning, to oversee the project. The AI model was trained using isolated vocal tracks from some of Travis' songs. James Dupré, who sang Travis' songs on the 2019 Music Of Randy Travis Tour, was then brought in to provide a guide vocal, and the AI-generated voice of Travis was then placed on top of it.

    Over the previous year, AI generators learned to simulate voices of famous singers, but this was proof that they could do it so convincingly that even the trained ears of Travis' musical inner circle couldn't tell the difference. It was the first authorized release from a major label using AI to create vocals for an artist who could no longer sing. It's a very benign use of the tech, bringing joy to Travis and his fans, but it crossed a threshold that could portend a time when there is no need for real singers.
  • Other than the voice, the rest of this song is flesh and bone. It was written by longtime Nashville songwriters Scotty Emerick and John Scott Sherrill, and live musicians played on it, including Emerick, who added classical guitar. The other players are:

    Dan Dugmore, Russ Pahl - steel guitar
    James Mitchell, Jerry McPherson - electric guitar
    Todd Lombardo - acoustic guitar
    Viktor Krauss - bass
    Paul Leim - drums
    John Jarvis - keyboards
    Jordan Lehning - synthesizer
    Eric Darken - percussion
  • The song was released on May 3, 2024, with Travis posting, "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."

    Over the next few days, Travis and the folks who worked on the song made media appearances explaining how it came together. In many of these stories we saw reactions from Travis' peers and family members as they heard the song for the first time.
  • An atmosphere of delight surrounded the release of "Where That Came From," but the song itself is a heartbreaker bearing no connection to Travis' AI-assisted comeback. It finds him singing about a girl he lost and his struggle to move on. He wants to find someone new, but there just ain't no more where that came from.

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