Randy Travis appears at Grammys on the Hill, wife credits AI song for 'whole new energy'
Randy Travis appears at Grammys on the Hill, wife credits AI song for 'whole new energy'
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Who Holds The Record For The Most Grammy Wins Of All Time?
Beyoncé holds the record for the most Grammy wins in history, with 32 awards. She cemented her status as one of the most successful artists in Grammy history. Georg Solti is next with 31 wins.
unbranded - Entertainment
WASHINGTON – Nearly 12 years ago, Randy Travis flatlined three times in the midst of a stroke.
The debilitating effects of the medical trauma left him mostly unable to speak and walk.
But the country singer whose career thrived from the '80s to the '00s with No. 1 hits including 'Diggin' Up Bones,' 'I Told You So' and 'Forever and Ever, Amen,' made an unexpected return to the charts in 2024 through the use of artificial intelligence.
'Where That Came From' was created using software to recreate Travis' distinctive twang and merge it with a 2011 recording of the song.
On Tuesday, Travis was hailed as the 2025 Creators Leadership Award honoree at the annual Grammys on the Hill event, which pairs the music industry with Congress to advocate for artists' rights.
The topic of AI – which also took the spotlight at last year's gathering – sparked conversation among musicians and producers including Pentatonix singer Scott Hoying, who hosted the event, singer/producer Kenyon Dixon and renowned producer/composer Giles Martin.
But while most discussions focused on the negative aspects of AI – stealing the vocals, notes and likenesses of public figures without permission – Travis represents a productive use of the technology.
With wife Mary Davis holding his arm, a bright-eyed Travis, who still struggles to walk and talk, said it felt 'wonderful' to be recognized while Davis expounded on Travis' return.
'It's so important for him to give back to music what music gave to him,' she said as the pair stood on the red carpet at The Hamilton in D.C. 'I wanted so bad to hear his voice again and when we had the opportunity, not only did I want to do it selfishly, but to see him at the soundboard working elbow to elbow with his producer, there was a whole new energy out of Randy.'
Travis is expected to be on Capitol Hill Wednesday to help reintroduce the bipartisan No FAKES Act (Nurture Originals, Foster Art and Keep Entertainment Safe). First proposed in 2023 by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del.; Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., the legislation has been tweaked and aims to protect Americans from deepfakes and voice clones, allow platforms to promptly remove unauthorized deepfakes and protect First Amendment use for news reporting and satire.
Along with Travis, Reps. Linda Sánchez, D-Calif., and Ron Estes, R-Kan., were also honored for their efforts to assist independent artists with the HITS Act (Help Independent Tracks Succeed), which allows tax relief for the cost of sound recordings.
The 90-minute event featured performances from several artists including Paul Overstreet, who co-wrote 'Forever And Ever, Amen' and urged the crowd of about 200 to sing along as he played guitar; soul/gospel singer DOE, who moved listeners with her tender ode to a friend in need, 'I'm So Glad We Met'; and Hoying, who ended the night with an impressive medley of 20 songs that won Record of the Year at the Grammys, including the Eagles' 'Hotel California' and Roberta Flack's 'Killing Me Softly With His Song.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Buzz Feed
2 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Bad Bunny Says It Is Silly To Complain About His Job
It's fair to say that Bad Bunny is one of the hardest-working music artists in the game right now. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio went from the barrio to the Billboard charts, becoming one of the first Latin artists to sell out stadiums around the world, even breaking the record for most tickets ever sold in Spain (he's set to perform 12 shows there on his upcoming tour). In a June 18 interview with Variety, the Puerto Rican superstar spoke to his work ethic as a music artist and celebrity. When his comments went viral, the fans were eating it up just as much as his boricua beats. In the interview, discussing his upcoming residency and tour surrounding his sixth studio album, Debí Tirar Más Fotos, Benito got real about what's expected of him as he embarks on one of the biggest tours of his career. "At times, I do think, cabrón, what I'm signing up for is a lot," he said. For context, Benito is set to perform a 30-night residency at the Colseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan, not too far from where he grew up from July 11 to Sept. 14, and then he's going on a 56-date world stadium tour from November 2025 to July 2026. Basically, he's booked and busy. "But the way I see it, I'm not a doctor; I'm not a teacher; I'm not someone who has to wake up every morning at 5 a.m. to lay down concrete on a busy road to survive," Benito continued. "My job is to fucking sing, and even though it comes with its own set of sacrifices, it feels silly to complain about it." When Benito's comments on the pressure of fame started to make their rounds on the internet, like in this Reddit thread, a lot of people had something to say about it, many praising the three-time Grammy winner for his honesty. Here are some of my favorite comments. "He's a man who got famous as an adult and has managed to become the hometown hero of Puerto Rico, which he obviously put in the work to deserve. It's not necessarily easy to handle, but you can compare that to what a lot of women and people who start as child stars go through. Good for him that he feels this way about it, but I'm not shocked that it's not a common perspective. If he can avoid the toxicity of overwhelming greed and not chase being a billionaire or whatever, he might actually stay happy," a Reddit user shared. Another Reddit user said, "Finally someone with some common sense. I'm so tired of celebs complaining how hard their job is, having never worked a real job in their lives. Like, sure, the pressure must be a lot and paparazzi and public scrutiny, but that's nothing compared to some annoying boomer manager breathing down your neck 24/7 or a customer having a screaming meltdown over a difference of 28 cents or cleaning up vomit, etc." "I appreciate the humility but the more artists downplay the work they put in the more the public does as well. EVERY job has pros and cons so please remember that. He is lucky to have the job he has but it's not like many of them don't work hard for it. 💙" X user wrote. This Reddit user wrote, "He has the right attitude and a healthy perspective." "Good way of putting it, everything is relative and even with fame and money and privilege you can still stress and be sad and be overwhelmed at times, but still understand and be grateful for what you have," another X user wrote. "I truly wish more celebrities and influencers had enough self-awareness to realize that publicly whining about their privileged lives doesn't hit the way they think it does," another Reddit user added. Finally, this Reddit user said, "It doesn't even sound like he's saying that as a performer you can't have bad days or struggle in/with your career, it more so sounds like he simply thinks it's in poor taste to publicly lament about how hard you have it since it's a highly privileged profession." What do you think about Bad Bunny's take on the pressures of being a famous singer? Let's talk about it in the comments.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Ready to 'dance the night away'? Dua Lipa at Wembley - What you need to know
This June, Grammy-winning artist Dua Lipa is taking over Wembley Stadium as part of her worldwide Radical Optimism Tour. The artist, known for hits 'Dance The Night' and 'One Kiss', is coming to Wembley after headlining the Glastonbury Festival in 2024. The Radical Optimism Tour promises stunning visuals, amazing vocals, spectacular dance routines, costumes and Dua Lipa performing all of her hits. If you were able to get tickets to see Dua Lipa at Wembley, find out everything you need to know from the support acts, timings, the setlist and more. Dua Lipa will be performing at the iconic Wembley Stadium for two nights, on Friday, June 20 and Saturday, June 21. If you want to head down early to soak in the atmosphere before the BRIT Award winner takes to the stage, you can at 5pm when the doors at Wembley open. The official set times for Dua Lipa have not yet been confirmed, but according to Wembley Park, the set times are expected to be as follows: Support acts start at 6pm Dua Lipa takes to the stage at 8.15pm The show ends no later than 10.30pm The setlist for the tour based on previous shows, is as follows: Training Season One Kiss (Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa cover) Illusion End of an Era Break My Heart Whatcha Doing Levitating These Walls Be the One Love Again Pretty Please Hallucinate New Rules Electricity (Silk City & Dua Lipa cover) Cold Heart (Elton John cover) Anything for Love Happy for You Encore: Physical Dance the Night Don't Start Now Houdini If you're curious about how good your view of the stage will be at Wembley Stadium, you can see on its website. On the website, you'll be able to select your exact seat and see a digital view of the stage. All seating is reserved. It is also important to note that people buying in level 5 should be aware they are high up and not suitable if you have a fear of heights. Recommended Reading The best ways to get to Wembley Stadium using the Tube, bus and car Heading to Wembley Stadium? Check the parking guide so you don't get scammed How to get home from Wembley Stadium quickly and avoid the queues Dua Lipa will be supported by two special acts, Dove Cameron and Alessi Rose. Dove Cameron is best known for songs Boyfriend and Breakfast, along with appearing in the film series Descendants and the Disney show Liv and Maddie. Singer Alessi Rose has hits including hate this part, say ur mine and Stella.
Gizmodo
8 hours ago
- Gizmodo
YouTube Will Add an AI Slop Button Thanks to Google's Veo 3
I told you that AI slop was coming for your YouTube content, and did you believe me? I don't know, maybe you did, but if you didn't believe before, you certainly will now. According to YouTube CEO Neal Mohan, who gave a keynote at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on Wednesday, YouTube is getting a new tool that generates Shorts from 'scratch.' By scratch, I mean with the help of Google's recently unveiled Veo 3 AI generator. That's right, a one-stop shop for AI slop is incoming, which should be great if you like not ever knowing what's real or fake. Mohan, like many executives in tech and otherwise, is decidedly very excited about the potential for AI to shake up the game. Here's what he said during his keynote, per the Hollywood Reporter. 'Communities will continue to surprise us with the power of their collective fandom. And cutting-edge AI technology will push the limits of human creativity. My biggest bet is that YouTube will continue to be the stage where it all happens. Where anyone with a story to share can turn their dream into a career… and anyone with a voice can bring people together and change the world.' Sure, that's one possibility, I guess. The other possibility? A new and heaping mountain of junk content that neither enriches your general selection of YouTube fodder nor protects the already embattled line between reality and fiction. I hate to be the resident slippery slope guy, but how far are we really going to take this? According to Mohan, pretty freakin' far. 'The possibilities with AI are limitless,' Mohan said during the keynote. 'A lot can change in a generation. Entertainment itself has changed more in the last two decades than any other time in history. Creators led this revolution.' people are using veo3 to bring history to life in the form of vlogs 🤣 via HistoryVisualizedbyAI on YouTube — Tanay Jaipuria (@tanayj) June 15, 2025 It's a little ironic to extol the creator-led content revolution on one hand and introduce a watershed tool that helps vacuum up all of their content and regurgitate it into AI slop on the other, but hey, who's counting? Oh, that's right, Hollywood is. As noted by the Hollywood Reporter, YouTube has already struck a deal with the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) that gives artists and athletes control over their likeness. But that's just some artists who are okay with capitulating to the apparent tsunami of video generation. Hundreds of other actors have already voiced their concerns over the potential for AI to ruin their careers and plunder their intellectual property. As a result, they've called for regulation on generative AI and its implementation. You may have gathered from the simple fact of my writing these words right now that those cries for a legal framework haven't really gone anywhere. They may never, to be honest, which brings me back to YouTube's plans for a future AI slop faucet. Here we are, on the precipice of real and fake, looking out at the horizon of God knows what, waiting for the deluge of AI slop to send us kicking and screaming into the ravine of existential AI pain. I'm not saying YouTube's generative shorts are going to be the lynchpin in that frankly depressing, slop-filled future, but there's no denying it's a nod in a sloppy direction. I guess we may as well get used to it. I mean, it can't get any worse than MrBeast, right? Right?
