I did this podcast yesterday with Kenny Greenberg…

If you don’t live in Nashville you may not know Kenny, but… At this point he’s Kenny Chesney’s guitarist, amongst a ton of other credits. And I’m asking Kenny Greenberg about the difference between Nashville yesterday and today, since he’s been there since the seventies.

Well, the publishers aren’t handing out deals like they used to. It wasn’t hard to get a publishing deal in the past, in addition, they’d pay for a band and demos and…

All that’s gone.

So now, a lot of people are making their demos with Suno, AI.

Last week I got this e-mail from Jack Tempchin. You know Jack, he wrote “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and co-wrote “Already Gone” and many others. And unlike a lot of writers who had hits in the past, Jack is still writing, prodigiously. He goes down to the beach and makes up songs and…

This is what Jack said:

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From: Jack Tempchin

Subject: Jack Tempchin’s new album MAGIC MIRROR

Hi Bob

My songs performed by AI.

I sure would appreciate it if you have time to listen to it.

Thanks!!

Jack

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-magic-mirror/1865153708

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0GD543MNM

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2H6VfAUCGSnGpbQmBkdjQr

Tidal: https://tidal.com/album/485722599

Youtube Music: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nYLmFkXPt7vLDfg-OEjVkRbHjjUNU_uRQ

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From: Bob Lefsetz

Re: Jack Tempchin’s new album MAGIC MIRROR

Listening…

Are you joking or is this really AI?

If so, what were the prompts?

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From: Jack Tempchin

Re: Jack Tempchin’s new album MAGIC MIRROR

It really is AI. Done with Suno!

I sang and played guitar, or most of the time just sang with no instrument into the SUNO app.

 

A lot of the time I don’t use a prompt and see what SUNO creates.

On ONLY LOVE KNOWS I used a prompt.  I just said “swing” and it created a big band Frank Sinatra arrangement.

On BACK IN THE 60’S I told it to do 60’s acid rock with Wa Wa guitar.  I sang the song into it  acapella and I actually sang the WaWa guitar parts.

Two interesting facts.

It actually changes the mood of singing and playing during the song based on the Meaning of the lyrics. It hears what you are singing about and gets sad or happy with the vocal and arrangement in response to that.  Pretty amazing.

The other thing is that SUNO has a “remix contest”. People who enter the contest for the $1000 prizes all remix the song chosen for the contest. They chose my song ONLY LOVE KNOWS.

What that means is that they take my song, which was written by me  and recorded by SUNO (I don’t use SUNO to write or help write the songs) and they put that song back into SUNO with different prompts that they create. They make their own arrangement of the song.

 

So this something amazing. It is a way for people who are not musicians to interact with their favorite music in a way that has never been possible before! They make their own versions of the songs they love.

I did not realize that this is a huge thing that is happening all over the world.

Over 4000 people remixed my song. There are versions in every style from all over the world.

Bob, I can’t thank you enough for listening to my album.

Jack

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So with this in the back of my head…

Kenny Greenberg tells me that many people in Nashville are now making their demos with Suno.

He’s in the studio with Chesney, and Chesney pulls up a demo and says he wants to cut the song. And he wants the sound of this particular instrument replicated exactly.

And then Greenberg tells Chensey IT’S A SUNO DEMO! And that those aren’t real instruments. And the sound Chesney likes and wants re-created is a blend of a guitar and a keyboard and Greenberg will do his best to reproduce it, but it won’t be exactly the same, because it can’t be, because that’s not a real instrument!

Now let me be clear, although Kenny Greenberg laments the fact that publishing companies are not ponying up money for real demos anymore, and he finds some of the sound of the Suno demos cheesy, he’s not decrying AI. He believes it’s here to stay, that it’s a tool.

So that’s the way it is today.

Consider this a message from the front.