NASHVILLE — In early November, country singer-songwriter Chase Matthew achieved a milestone that artists dream about: his first No. 1 on the Billboard country radio chart. Matthew, 28, celebrated the news at a concert in North Carolina in front of cheering fans as he thanked radio programmers for their support of the high-energy single “Darlin.’”
Around the same week, ‘another’ song climbed to the top of a different Billboard country chart — and although the metric wasn’t nearly as meaningful, the news made a lot more headlines.
“Walk My Walk,” a track from an act called Breaking Rust, landed at No. 1 on the magazine’s country digital song sales list. It didn’t take long for journalists to realize that Breaking Rust didn’t appear to be human; Billboard referred to it as a “AI-powered country act,” and one of several “AI artists” on its charts.
“Can listeners tell the difference?” CNN wondered, taking the question to people on the street. “Does it matter?”
It’s an issue that has been roiling the music industry lately, even after years of media consolidation and format changes that had already made it harder for real singers and songwriters to earn a living.
The alarm bells grew louder in 2025 as artificial intelligence became more pervasive, but the Breaking Rust episode was a particular focal point for Nashville anxieties; Tennessee was the first state to sign into law the Elvis Act, which protects singers from their voices being copied by AI.
In this town, authenticity and originality are sensitive subjects, given the premium placed on writers who pour out genuine human emotion in their lyrics. Even in a time when country singers regularly infuse rock, R&B and hip-hop into their songs, battles still erupt over what is considered “real” country music. So the idea of a not-real singer taking up a chart spot that could go to a hardworking human throws a wrench into an already delicate topic.
For now, engineers behind Breaking Rust remain mysterious, beyond the bare-bones information listed on streamers such as Apple Music and Spotify.
“Walk My Walk,” a bluesy melody about staying true to yourself no matter what the haters say (You can hate my style, you can roll your eyes / But I ain’t slowing down, I was born to rise), is credited to Aubierre Rivaldo Taylor, a songwriter with a scarce online presence.
The Washington Post attempted to reach the Breaking Rust team through various social media channels and received no response.
When “Walk My Walk” went No. 1, several observers disputed the narrative that country music was being overrun by AI. They noted that relatively few country listeners purchase digital songs in today’s streaming world, so topping that particular chart isn’t that significant — nothing compared to the impact of songs that top the charts measuring sales, streaming and radio play.
During one of the two weeks “Walk My Walk” sat at No. 1 on country digital sales, Billboard reported that the song sold around 2,000 copies; by comparison, the highest-selling song on the all-genre digital song chart was Taylor Swift’s single “The Fate of Ophelia,” which sold 29,000.
Still, the irresistible story that an AI-generated song went to No. 1 on any chart grabbed the attention of artists in Nashville, just as they congregated for the Country Music Association Awards, the town’s most prestigious trophy show.
Matthew arrived on the CMA red carpet still basking in the glow of his first trip to the top of the radio charts. When The Post asked him about the AI country song making headlines, he quibbled with the metrics: If there was real buzz around the track, people would have heard about it before it hit No. 1.
“There’s plus sides to AI, and there’s bad sides to AI,” Matthew said. “That’s a bad side, for sure.”
Right now, many are trying to find plus sides. Randy Travis’s record label used the technology to release a new song from the 1980s superstar years after a stroke left him unable to sing — an emotional moment that they emphasized had Travis’s full consent. Spotify recently announced steps to protect artists and producers, such as rules against impersonation, and revealed a partnership to work with record companies and “develop responsible AI products.”
But during CMA Awards week — when The Post asked nearly 20 artists about their reaction to the “Walk My Walk” Billboard news — there was plenty of skepticism and soul-searching about what it all means that an increasing number of people were fusing country music and AI.
“I’m very passionate about this, I don’t know that you want to ask me this question,” said singer-songwriter Ana Cristina Cash, who is married to John Carter Cash, the son of Johnny and June. “I don’t think anything is a substitute for the human soul. I think that people in general are unpredictable, and that’s what’s beautiful about people, about songwriters … there are songs that I’ve written that AI can’t write.”
“I don’t think it’s good for the long-term health of country music. I think it puts all of us at risk,” said Dillon Carmichael, who just released his third album, the aptly titled “Keepin’ Country Alive.”
Fear was another common response. “It’s really scary that anybody can make music and then take away from the real thing,” said four-time Grammy nominee Mickey Guyton.
Others seemed resigned to the idea that artists need to adapt to a new world, because AI is not going anywhere. “It’s scary as hell, it really is,” said Dawson Anderson, who broke out with the band Temecula Road before releasing solo music. “I don’t love any of it, but we’ll keep doing our thing and keep working it out.”
“I’m a nerd at heart,” said Sammy Arriaga, an artist who blends country and Latin music and has released his own blockchain-based NFTs. “AI is moving at such a rapid pace that instead of hating it and talking down on it, we’re in a position where we kind of need to learn it.”
Arriaga noted that using the technology remains “a gray area” within the creative community; he thinks that there should be regulations in place to control it. Several other singers said they want streaming services to commit to clear labeling of songs are AI-driven. But Arriaga knows musicians who are already turning to AI to level the playing field in a competitive industry.
“I know for a fact there’s independent artists out there that might not have the funds to produce a song, or produce a recording or hire a musician, and so they’ve used the platforms like Suno to help them with the creative process because of the lack of resources,” Arriaga said, referring to a tool that lets users create songs.
Some singers said that apps have already made their way into Nashville songwriting sessions, a crutch for moments of writer’s block. Tyler Rich, who had a hit with his debut country single in 2018 and recently released his first independent album, said he understands the desire to feed the beginning of a verse into ChatGPT to ask what it would write next.
You don’t have to take its suggestions, he said, yet one new word can spark a different idea.
But he draws the line at AI singers.
“Somebody’s making money off that, and it’s taking away from the charts, from the real songwriters — it is the way of the future, things are going to change, but it’s sad to see,” Rich said. “So, I don’t know. You just gotta fight the robots, man.”
Dustin Lynch, who has had a string of No. 1 singles over the last decade, said that AI is changing the way some people pen songs: “You have another brain that answers the question a little bit quicker than a co-writer.”
But it’s just another in a long line of transitions that Lynch, a Nashville performer since his college days in the early aughts, has already weathered in country music.
“When I first started, streaming didn’t exist, social media didn’t exist, having a drum track in the country music didn’t exist, and we’re fine,” he said. “So this is just another new chapter.”
After “Walk My Walk” hit the news, viral-hit country rapper Blanco Brown told the Associated Press that he got a text from a friend: Man, somebody done typed your name in the AI and made a white version of you.
So he recorded his own cover of “Walk My Walk,” putting his distinct human voice to the music and lyrics of murky AI-enabled origin.
Brown, who has produced songs for pop stars such as Pitbull and Fergie, shrugged when asked at the SESAC Nashville songwriting awards ceremony about AI’s impact on the industry. Producers already grappled with a similar shift more than 15 years ago when Auto-Tune software suddenly allowed performers to engineer their own music. Now the singers and songwriters are experiencing what that felt like.
“You just got to step your game up. It’s not going anywhere, so you might as well get used to it,” Brown said. “You better just be a better version of you and put soul in your music.”
Will listeners notice if a song isn’t created by a human? Will they care? Some certainly do. “One of my friends actually heard that song,” Colbie Caillat told The Post at the CMAs about the Breaking Rust hit. “And then when she found out it was AI, she was so sad.”
Meanwhile, country musicians and executives are adamant that ultimately, fans will not accept songs made by machine.
“I’ve thought a lot about it — gosh, I have a love-hate relationship with AI,” said Chris Blair, founder of the Listening Room Cafe, the popular Nashville venue where songwriters play their songs and share the stories behind them. He can see the benefits of the new technology. But he wants to protect writers and musicians.
Personally, he has enjoyed too many nights of audiences connecting with the writers on his stage to believe that a computer could accomplish the same feeling.
“That experience when you’re with a human being, watching the song be played and you feel that emotion,” he said. “AI can’t replace that.”
The post What country stars really think about that AI-generated country ‘hit’ appeared first on Washington Post.
