When songwriter Patrick Irwin moved to Nashville last year, he was entering a lottery. Each day hundreds of sessions take place where writers create a song demo to pitch to a publisher. Publishers then share those songs with labels and managers, who may share those songs with the artists. Even if a major country star records (\u201ccuts\u201d) the song, it still takes a stroke of luck for that song to become a No. 1 hit.<\/p>\n
The odds of winning are extremely low. Recently, Irwin was in a room where his cowriters Sam Fink and Duane Deerweater tried something new. Instead of booking studio time or calling a \u201ctrack guy\u201d to produce a demo, one cowriter opened Suno, an AI music platform, uploaded a voice memo with just guitar and vocals, and typed in a prompt: \u201ctraditional country, male vocal, folk country, story telling, 90s country, rhythmic.\u201d Thirty seconds later he had two fully produced demos complete with drums, electric guitars, bass, and backing harmonies. There were no studio musicians, no invoices.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou tell it the genre and it totally does the whole thing, it\u2019s insane,\u201d says Irwin. He was as astonished as he was disturbed. This was not the Nashville, a city with a storied 200-year history of producing much of America\u2019s greatest music, that he had imagined.<\/p>\n
Irwin isn\u2019t alone in this feeling. In the background, AI is taking over the city. At the start of 2024, few professionals had even tried these tools, but in the past six months, songwriters and producers have embraced them to work faster and cheaper \u2014 and for some, more resourcefully. No label, no major publisher, nor Suno would give comment for this story. But after speaking with musicians, writers, and a dozen anonymous insiders, it\u2019s clear that Nashville has become an AI town.<\/p>\n
Original recording of “Hold On To You” by Patrick Irwin, Sam Fink, and Duane Deerweater:<\/p>\n
“Hold On To You” remixed by Suno with the prompt: “Traditional country \/ male vocal \/ Folk country \/ Story telling \/ 90s country \/ rhythmic”<\/p>\n
Songwriter Trannie Anderson \u2014 who\u2019s written for Lainey Wilson, Dan + Shay, and Reba McEntire \u2014 says the tech is ubiquitous. Though she doesn\u2019t use it herself, she sees wide use \u201cfrom entry-level songwriters to the top dogs.\u201d She isn\u2019t exaggerating; multiple sources have told me that even stars like Dustin Lynch and Jelly Roll are being sent pitches with their voices artificially generated into demos, something AI voice transfer makes possible. Lynch\u2019s manager Brad Belanger confirmed this, adding, \u201cWhat a world we\u2019re moving into.\u201d Jelly Roll\u2019s representatives declined to comment on the record.<\/p>\n
The headlines<\/a> might<\/a> be focused<\/a> on \u201cWalk My Walk\u201d by Breaking Rust, an AI song that recently topped the Billboard Country Digital Song Sales chart, but that story is largely smoke and mirrors. That chart is a holdover from the pre-streaming era and easily gamed. The real revolution isn\u2019t on the charts yet \u2014 it\u2019s happening in the writing rooms.<\/p>\n Nashville is known as a \u201c10-year town,\u201d reflecting the amount of time you have to grind it out before getting a hit. Even for established songwriters, it takes a long while between the original songwriting session and making it to country radio. \u201cTwo years is the fastest I\u2019ve seen,\u201d says Jon Sherwood, a UMPG writer who penned the Bailey Zimmerman and Luke Combs hit \u201cBackup Plan.\u201d Sherwood still writes the traditional way, sans AI, but he notes the speed is changing the game. In the past, writers would pen a song, then pay a \u201ctrack guy\u201d $500 to $1,000 to record a professional demo to pitch to stars.<\/p>\n Suno is creating efficiencies in the Nashville song assembly line. Songwriters still write the lyrics and melody because Suno\u2019s generated lyrics are cloyingly cliche (though many of Nashville-based sources agreed that country radio hits can be too). They instead use the AI to handle the demo production. They record a voice memo, upload it, and use the \u201cremix\u201d feature to turn it into bro-country, alt-country, or \u201chick-hop\u201d in seconds. Maggie Reaves, a rising songwriter signed to publishers Dream 3 and Kobalt, recently had an assignment for a major artist with a one-day turnaround, so she wrote the song and \u201cthrew it in Suno.\u201d Her publisher told her, \u201cThis is perfect. This is going straight to her.\u201d<\/p>\n Reaves writes an average of 200 songs a year. Demoing her songs can be prohibitively expensive. She used to save up money to demo songs for $500 each \u2014 demoing all her songs could hypothetically cost tens of thousands of dollars each year. Now, she pays $96 a year for near-infinite attempts: \u201cI immediately saw this could replace that.\u201d<\/p>\n A sample draft of a voice memo “Dirt Road” by Charlie Harding:<\/p>\n “Dirt Road” remixed by Suno with the prompt: She\u2019s not alone. Publishers are even running back catalogs through Suno to find new angles on forgotten tracks.<\/p>\n The sound isn\u2019t perfect and can resemble an over-compressed, \u201cdated\u201d MP3: slightly lo-fi, not very dynamic, low sample rate and bit depth. But the uncanny valley of Suno songs is undeniably the voice, presenting with a slight grainy quality to the vocal that is overly pitch-corrected; the inflections are borderline Cylon. Yet Reaves says 70 percent of the output is solid enough to play in the car (traffic noise is enough to mask low-quality sound) and gives a clear picture of the finished song in order to pitch to an artist. These are demos, after all.<\/p>\n \u201cYou tell it the genre and it totally does the whole thing, it\u2019s insane.\u201d<\/p>\n Suno isn\u2019t just useful as a demoing tool; it also helps producers rapidly brainstorm different creative approaches to a song or musical passage. Independent songwriter Kalen Nash usually produces songs the old way, in his studio, track by track, but recently has adopted Suno for creative inspiration; he calls it a \u201cband in your pocket.\u201d He\u2019s used it to turn diary entries into full songs. Jacob Durrett, a Big Loud producer, uses it to find alternative versions and \u201cvibes\u201d for songs. He can put in a \u201chalf-cooked\u201d idea for inspiration: Just a guitar idea scratch track is enough for Suno to output multiple melody and full song ideas in any genre imaginable. \u200a\u201cI\u2019m in awe of it sometimes, how good it can be, you know?\u201d He says that Suno is giving him \u201ca productivity boost more than a creative boost.\u201d As a skilled musician, he\u2019s equally capable of trying a song out in any style \u2014 it just takes longer. His hope is that AI will take over the tedious parts of his job, like renaming files and preparing them to mix, so he can focus on the creative part.<\/p>\n Music publisher Eric Olson, who encourages writers to use the tool, calls it an \u201cunlimited co-writer in the room.\u201d He finds it useful for coming up with samples<\/a> without the headache of clearances, or concerns that someone else has sampled the same part. For him, it\u2019s about buying back time. \u201cIf I can give Suno the last 20 percent and spend more time with my kids, that\u2019s huge,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not all biscuits and gravy, though. Most people in Nashville wear multiple hats: songwriter, \u201ctrack guy,\u201d studio musician, touring guitarist. \u201cThere used to be a whole world where musicians were making six figures only playing demo scale,\u201d says Ian Fitchuk, the Grammy-winning producer of Kacey Musgraves\u2019 Golden Hour. Fitchuk has steered clear of Suno and worries about the musicians losing that income. Trannie Anderson calls it \u201cthe final nail in the coffin\u201d for the demo studio system. If the \u201cfarm team\u201d of demo players disappears, the industry might face a talent crisis down the road.<\/p>\n There are also legal and ethical headaches: \u201cIf Suno spits out a lead line an artist uses, what\u2019s the protocol?\u201d asks Reaves. The copyright office doesn\u2019t protect AI work, which makes the ownership of these hybrid songs messy; plus, the AI was trained on existing music. \u201cAI learns from my songs, my friends\u2019 songs \u2026 We aren\u2019t being compensated,\u201d says Anderson. And there\u2019s the \u201cick\u201d factor. Durrett hates when the AI outputs a voice that sounds exactly like a friend of his. (He claims it\u2019s happened many times.)<\/p>\n Despite the concerns, Suno just secured $250 million<\/a> in funding<\/a>, is making $200 million in annual revenue, and adoption is accelerating. Wait around two years and you\u2019re going to hear songs made with the help of Suno all over country radio.<\/p>\n The question is how they will sound. Anderson hears that \u201cthere\u2019s an element missing,\u201d she says. \u201cHumanity and a soul \u2026 The Holy Spirit doesn\u2019t live in AI.\u201d<\/p>\n Follow topics and authors<\/strong> from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.<\/p>\n
\n“Style:\u2028Outlaw country with a driving half-time shuffle. Deep baritone male vocal with a laid-back but commanding delivery, similar to Waylon Jennings. Warm analog tone, slightly gritty.
\nInstrumentation:\u2028Twangy Telecaster electric guitar with light overdrive, steady acoustic rhythm guitar, Fender bass with a tight, forward groove, brushed or lightly swung drums, subtle pedal steel swells, occasional baritone guitar riffs.
\nVibe & Production:\u202870s Nashville outlaw sound \u2014 dry drums, wide but minimal reverb, punchy low end, guitars panned wide, vocals centered and intimate. Feel should be confident, cool, and unhurried.”
\n“Dirt Road” with additional lyrics written with specifically-prompted Claude, remixed by Suno with the prompt: “Style:\u2028Warm, modern country with a blend of Southern soul and rootsy swagger. Strong, rich female vocal with plenty of character \u2014 earthy, expressive, and slightly smoky. Laid-back confidence with melodic phrasing that feels both classic and current.
\nInstrumentation:\u2028Round, melodic bass; tight, steady drums with a hint of swampy groove; acoustic guitar strums; smooth electric guitar licks with light twang; occasional slide guitar or pedal steel for emotional lift; light organ pads underneath.
\nProduction:\u2028Polished but organic. Warm low end, clean guitars, vocals placed upfront with subtle grit, tasteful reverb for space but not gloss. Overall vibe should feel grounded, heartfelt, and radio-ready with a bit of a back-porch feel.
\nMood:\u2028Honest, soulful, confident storytelling \u2014 grounded in real experience, heart, and country charm.”<\/p>\n\n