Parkinson’s forced – Samuel Smith, 49, says Parkinson’s stripped him of the ability to play guitar while he was working on his second album, “The Art of Letting Go.” He turned to AI music tools to build demo arrangements—humming rough melodies into his phone and generating backing
In the middle of work on his second album, Samuel Smith ran out of one thing he’d always relied on: the ability to play guitar.
The London-based singer-songwriter. 49. was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2020. and the progressive neurological disorder has steadily taken away his fine motor control—tremors. stiffness and fatigue that he said made his guitar skills deteriorate during the more than year he worked on “The Art of Letting Go.”.
For Smith, the choice wasn’t about whether to keep making music. It was about whether the music in his head could reach the studio in time.
“So then I’m faced with a question,” Smith said. “ ‘Don’t play, don’t be creative, or find a way out, find a route.’ And for me, this was the route.”
The album arrives after Smith’s debut, “In the Springtime,” released in 2023. He has said that record was meant to give his two sons a way to remember when he could perform and record music himself.
“I’d always written, I’d also played, I always sung,” Smith said. “And immediately it became clear to me that I was in trouble, that my music was going to be seriously compromised.”
For the album’s eight tracks. the biggest test came with an instrumental piece titled “Horizon.” Smith turned to generative AI tools to create demo arrangements that could carry his vision to the musicians who recorded the track. He stressed that the demos were not intended to be mixed directly into the final studio version.
Instead, he described a process built around what his body could still do. He would hum rough melodies into his phone, upload the recordings, and use song generators—including platforms such as Suno and Udio—to produce musical material he could edit and refine.
“It’s not for mixing into the final version,” Smith said, describing how the apps helped him produce convincing starting points when his hands could no longer execute what he’d written.
He said getting something close to his music often took “50, 100, 150 attempts” and extensive editing.
After the rough synthetic drafts, the goal was for other musicians to understand what he was hearing. Smith said AI was a bridge—one that let him audition an idea, then bring it to the people who would turn it into a finished recording.
“AI is not replacing anything for me,” he said. “It’s unlocking, it’s enabling. It’s allowing me to keep writing. I upload my lyrics; AI doesn’t create my lyrics. I upload my music; AI does not create my music.”
He added: “It then brings it to life in a way that I can play to session players and say, ‘Here, that’s what I’m thinking, that is what I’m hearing.’”
The work that followed still required real humans in real rooms. “The Art of Letting Go” was produced by Grammy-winning pianist and producer Matt Rollings. who assembled established roots and bluegrass musicians for the project. The lineup included dobro player and 16-time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas. Grammy-winning banjo player Alison Brown. fiddler Stuart Duncan. guitarist Bryan Sutton. bassist Viktor Krauss and singers Jonatha Brooke and Glen Phillips.
For Smith, recording alongside musicians he had admired for decades meant something beyond the technical challenge. He called the experience of singing in a Nashville studio “an extraordinary moment.”
On the album’s title track, and on “Horizon,” he was joined by Grammy-nominated guitarist Julian Lage, known for jazz and acoustic recordings with Blue Note Records.
Smith described “Horizon” as a bittersweet high point. He said his disease made it hard to play guitar, but on that track he was able to capture what he called a rare window of capability.
“I hadn’t been able to play for months. but I kept telling myself that if I wrote something to take to the studio. perhaps the clouds would part for a few minutes. ” Smith said. “That’s what happened. I had a window of about 10 minutes in the studio when my arm freed up. … So in the end, I was able to capture the last breath of my guitar playing.”.
The story lands at a time when AI music tools are already pulling the industry in opposite directions. Generative AI has been accused of using copyrighted material to train the models behind music-generation systems. In June 2024, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records sued Suno and Udio. Universal later reached a settlement and partnership deal with Udio, and Warner did the same with Suno.
Less discussed than the legal fights is the day-to-day reality for artists who may need the technology as a substitute for physical limitations.
Experts who study disability and music say AI could help some people participate in musical creation in new ways. Ruaidhri Mannion. a composer. music producer and sonic artist who teaches at Brunel University of London. said technology like affordable digital recording software “effectively democratized the making of music” in recent decades. He said AI tools that generate polished-sounding material from voice or text prompts could work in a similar way by helping songwriters communicate and collaborate.
“If these tools are able to enable people to be able to participate with other creative groups and encourage more people to feel confident to be able to reach out to an ensemble or an orchestra or something, then I think that is all for the better,” Mannion said.
But Mannion also warned that leaning too heavily on tools could interfere with the trial and error he views as essential to musical discovery.
“What makes a lot of music-making meaningful is the collaborative element,” he said. “There’s a lot of experimentation and development and failure that’s part of musical discovery.”
Udio and Suno have denied copyright infringement allegations and said they wanted to work with the music industry rather than against it. Still, some musicians remain unconvinced.
In February. singer-songwriter Tift Merritt. David Lowery of Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven. and ECR Music Group President Blake Morgan were among a group of recording artists and activists who published an open letter under the heading “So no to Suno.” The letter warned that while some in the community embrace responsible AI. it’s not the same as a marketplace where AI-generated works sourced from artists’ music are mass distributed to dilute royalties—or reward people “actively seeking to commit fraud.”.
Smith, in contrast, framed his experience as a practical lesson in access. He said his message is that AI could expand creative participation if companies build it responsibly.
“My message would be that if these companies want to show they’ve got a place, a role in society, then step up,” Smith said. “Engage with health professionals, engage with music therapists, engage with society and show us what you can do.”
On May 21. Smith collaborated with the Berklee Music and Health Institute for an event in New York that brought together music industry leaders. researchers and clinicians. The gathering looked at how music can support people living with neurological conditions. Smith discussed his experience with Parkinson’s and sang again alongside musicians who played on “The Art of Letting Go.”.
For Smith, none of it is just about producing a record. Creating music is part of the legacy he hopes to leave for his children, ages 4 and 17.
“My 4-year-old is probably never going to remember me playing, and it’s heartbreaking,” he said. “But I’ve been able to pull this into something and refuse to be defined by this disease.”
Samuel Smith Parkinson’s disease AI music tools Suno Udio “The Art of Letting Go” “Horizon” music industry copyright Berklee Music and Health Institute Julian Lage