Hello Listeners of the Digital Stream, (those vinyl aficionados are welcome too),
The sounds here at SpragueLand are buzzing both analog and digital as we gear up for an upcoming livestream concert. Here are the deets:
Live(ish) From SpragueLand Episode 38
The Tribute Rebels Wrestle with AI
Peter Sprague Group
Thursday March 6, 2025
7 pm
One of the most talked about acronym these days is AI. It’s everywhere and I’m not sure everyone (including me) really knows what it’s about.
Our man on the pulse of tech, Digital Brian, has been bringing it up a lot these days and it made sense for us to team up and explore where AI and music currently collide.
We tuned into a site called SUNO and typed in this prompt:
A song about Joe Fleck’s Plumbing who has the slogan “flush your troubles down the drain,” all set in the big band jazz genre.
47 seconds later a fully produced song appeared with vocals from what sounds like Michael Bublé.
It blew our mind!
With these lyrics that it made up:
[Verse]
Joe Fleck’s got a wrench for your pain
He’ll flush your troubles down the drain
Pipes are clanging ain’t no joke
He’ll fix ’em up before you choke
[Chorus]
Call Joe Fleck he’s on his way
Turn your night into a brighter day
Leaky faucet time to regain
Flush those troubles down the drain
We’re laughing!
With background horns and vocal harmonies on the second verse, a great audio mix — simply mind blowing.
It isn’t an original take on music but I tell you there could be some fun sparring with this technology. And that brings us up to this livestream concert with the Tribute Rebels wrestling with AI.
YouTube link
Who or what is The Tribute Rebels? Here’s a little backstory:
Currently there exists a movement all over the country for bands to put on “themed” concerts focusing on the music of some famous artist. Many wonderful things come from this—you learn the fine details of the artist’s music at a level that’s much deeper than you would from just listening to it, plus it’s a cool ride playing a tune you’ve only heard on record and then taking it live.
The downsides of this movement is that it’s a lot of work getting the program together to be played for one show. You only get one chance and then it’s over. The next day you’re on to another rehearsal prepping for another tribute concert.
For us composers, what about furthering our own songwriting abilities and shaping our band’s creative direction?
To address this current state of affairs we’re bringing together the Tribute Rebels and AI for a night of music in which each of the band members have composed new songs just for this show. A world premier every which way you look!
The AI component of the show asks each of the new compositions to include some sort of interaction with AI. That could be an AI generated lyric of which the composer writes the music. Or maybe AI comes up with the song title. We’re thinking that AI could come up with a drum extravaganza that Duncan interacts with and I’ve got a new song that I’m going to have AI help with the lyrics and also come up with a song of it’s own with those very same lyrics. Next we’ll listen to both versions of the song and see who likes which version the most. We real humans could very well loose on the deal.
This all sounds sinister and interesting and me and the band all have our own thoughts on this issue. One thing is certain, we’re having a hoot putting this program together.
The band includes some of the best with Allison Adams Tucker on vocals, Danny Green on piano, Tripp Sprague on sax and flute, Mack Leighton on bass, Duncan Moore on drums, and me on guitar.
It’ll be fun and I sure hope you can tune in.
all best, Peter
Price of admission? Actually the concert is free but we will have a “virtual tip jar” complete with PayPal, Zelle and Venmo info for you to donate whatever you feel good about. Also, old reliable snail mailing checks works too. You folks have been super generous with this and it makes us happy.
Paypal: petersprague@sbcglobal.net
Be sure when asked “Paying for an item or service” to hit the Change button and select the “family or friends” option to bypass the fees.
Venmo: @PeterSprague
Zelle: Peter Sprague peter@petersprague.com
mail checks via snail mail to:
Peter Sprague
311 East Glaucus St.
Encinitas, CA 92024