JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – A Mississippi artist is topping the Christian music charts, but he’s not really Mississippi-born.
Rather, he is Mississippi-made.
Solomon Ray is an AI-created, Southern Soul gospel singer with almost 75,000 followers on Instagram.
The man behind it is Topher Townsend, a Mississippi artist who has been creating music for over 20 years.
Townsend works for Turning Point USA nationally, has been a conservative Christian hip hop artist for many years, and uses social media to preach about the gospel.
After years of creating music as Topher, Townsend decided to try something new – that being AI music.
Townsend shared the process of how he creates this music.
“I got a hook in mind, I got some lyrics in mind, and I go in and I use ChatGPT to help me structure the song, get it prepared for Suno,” Townsend said. “Suno is where I place the lyrics inside and then, from there, I just generate songs until I find something that I like.”
From there, Townsend said he changes things, similar to a producer.
But, there’s some controversy behind it.
Some artists and listeners are against AI-generated music, saying it’s not real music.
“Anybody who’s saying this is 100% generated from the lyrics down, they’re trying to feed into the fear that many people have of AI and, to me, that’s just bad faith,” Townsend said. “You have to have a human prompt in this and, thank the Lord that it’s a Christian human prompt in gospel music, and that should be celebrated more than just talking about AI and its autonomy.”
While Townsend stated that people have the right not to like the music, he wants people to realize the good, he said, which can come from it.
“This could be a huge movement for artists in Mississippi, especially in the underserved community who might not have access to these big bands and these quality studios,” Townsend said. “But, they can open an app like Suno and place their porch, their lyrics into it, and become their own producer or conductor and put out something amazing that the world may love.”
Townsend said he creates music when he’s inspired and wants to bring people from pain to the promise that God has for them.
Want more WLBT news in your inbox? Click here to subscribe to our newsletter.
See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please click here to report it and include the headline of the story in your email.
Copyright 2025 WLBT. All rights reserved.
