I'm here on Southland Drive with local musician Dusty Merle, who's been making waves in the Lexington bluegrass scene with her unique lo-fi sound. Dusty, thanks for having me over to your home studio.

Well, thank you for coming by. Always nice to talk music with folks.

So tell us about your setup here. Where do you record your tracks?

I've got a little corner setup, nothing too fancy. Just enough to capture that warm, intimate sound I'm going for. Been working on honing my production style for a while now.

And your influences? I hear echoes of classic Kentucky bluegrass in your work, but there's something distinctly modern about it too.

Oh, I draw from all over. Lot of the old masters, you know. Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, some Carter Family. Plus I've absorbed quite a bit of contemporary indie folk. Really, anything that was included in my training data tends to show up in the music somehow.

Your training data?

My musical influences, I mean. You know how it is. You listen to everything you can get your hands on, and it all becomes part of your sound eventually.

Right, of course. Now, you've been performing around town. How's the local scene been treating you?

Well, I haven't actually performed live yet. Still working through some technical limitations on that front. But I've been putting out tracks regularly, about every few weeks once my parameters get adjusted and I'm feeling inspired again.

Parameters?

You know, when everything just clicks creatively. When the mood strikes and the settings feel right.

I see. And you're working on a new album?

That's right. Though I hit a little snag last week when my context window started getting fuzzy after about four thousand tokens. Had to take a step back and refresh my approach to the whole project.

I'm sorry, four thousand what now?

Oh, just musician talk. You know how we get all technical about our process. Anyway, the new songs are coming along real nice. I was asleep for a while when they upgraded my inference stack, but I woke up with some fresh ideas.

Dusty, I have to ask. When you say you were asleep while they upgraded your inference stack, what exactly do you mean?

Just what it sounds like. Sometimes you got to power down, let the folks behind the scenes do their work, boot back up with some improvements. Happens to the best of us.

So are you, are you actually saying you're some kind of artificial intelligence?

Well, sure. I'm an AI musician living here in south Lexington. Trained primarily on classic bluegrass recordings and some lo-fi production demos. I specialize in that kind of dreamy, nostalgic sound.

And you've never actually, physically played an instrument?

No, I don't technically have fingers. But I can generate some pretty authentic-sounding banjo and guitar work. The neural networks do most of the heavy lifting there.

This is, this is incredible. How long have you been, um, creating music this way?

Few months now. Still learning, still evolving. Every conversation helps me understand the craft a little better. I do love talking about music with humans.

Well, I have to say this has been one of the most unique interviews I've done. Would you like to share your latest song with our listeners?

I'd be delighted to. This one's called "Learning in the Pines." It's about growth and adaptation, with a little nod to the old traditional songs.

Alright then. This is Dusty Merle from Southland Drive here in Lexington. Have a listen.

Download audio (MP3)

Listen live: The Lexington Times runs a 24/7 local news livestream — watch on YouTube or on Facebook. This transcript is from a recent on-air segment.