A couple of years after I retired I started taking guitar lessons. A little late in life but not too late, so they say. Sherry joined in and we found some friends to jam with and a few music circles around town (the library, etc). It was fun. But our lives changed when we got Aurora. We soon found we didn’t have as much time and energy – plus everything was at night. Why do retired people still want to do everything in the evenings? Beats me. Anyway, evenings don’t work very well when you have a kid.
Another problem I had (still have) is my hearing. I wear hearing aids. They tend to make the guitar sound tinny. Plus an arthritic shoulder which hurts when I try to play for very long. Oh I could go on and on with excuses. Really, I could. Bottom line… it wasn’t a top priority any more.
Although I never got to be better than mediocre on the guitar I did find that I had an interest in (and a knack for) songwriting. It’s fun. It’s a challenge. I enjoy it. The problem with writing songs when a) you’re ancient, b) you don’t have access to a band or group of interested musicians and c) you don’t have the funds to pay $100+ per hour for studio work (and still be disappointed) is… what do you do with the songs after you’ve written them. Answer – put them in a drawer. Which is not very satisfying.
Then along comes A.I. Now…. I share everyone’s hopes and fears about A.I. It has great potential (and is already making huge strides) in medicine, education, science, etc. It also may kill us all. A.I. by itself is not evil. But there are evil people in the world. And stupid people who don’t understand that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
Anyway, long story short (too late)….. I am using A.I. to flesh out my songs. The lyrics and the melodies are 100% mine. The performance (the arrangement, the vocals, the instruments etc) are all A.I. It’s amazing how close I can get to what my vision for a song was. I’m really happy with how true they are to my vision. So I’m going to be posting my songs here.
You can play them for free by following the links. Or you can find them on YouTube or if you use Suno, SoundCloud, Spotify and Amazon, I-Heart Radio and other platforms. Just do a search for Bill Beasley.
If you are a musician and would like to play any of these, feel free. If you can, send me an audio or a video. I’d love to see them. I have two albums out now and will be releasing a Christmas album right after Thanksgiving. Most of these songs were written from 2016 onward. But some are new. I’m still writing.
If you would like to have these in your phone or computer’s music library you can buy either the songs or the albums on Amazon at really good prices. I’ll be posting all of my songs eventually so keep coming back.
