5-STRING BANJO    ACOUSTIC BACKING    ORIGINAL COMPOSITION                                                  A.I. VOCAL SYNTHESIZER    DIGITAL ORCHESTRAL PROCESSING

   

SHARE !

                                 Song Writer and Performer. 75 years young.

                  MY MUSIC STORY

 

 

 

 

   

           I spend a lot of time writing music. I always have.

 

    I wrote my first song when I was 12 years old. It was called         "The King and Queen Cards Son”   (The Joker).

 

 

     I don’t recall sharing that with anyone, but I can still 

     play it word for word, and hear the music in my head.

     My revelation at that moment—that music and words can           combine to create emotion, and that we have the

     capability of hearing a song any time we choose in our

     imaginations—has never left me. 

 

 

     I often wake up in the night with music in my ears. I hear           songs throughout the day—in the shower. In my

     exercise class. Driving in my car. Sitting at my desk.

 

 

      There is nothing unusual or unique about this. I certainly          don’t have any special talent where “audio daydreams” are        concerned.  After all, we all hear words, thoughts and                music in our minds.  In my case though, I make it a point            to write them down.     

                    

                             And  turn them into a tune.

•  

  In the 4^th grade, my teacher Mr. Chatfield, showed us how harmony and counterpoint could take a simple melody and turn it into a remarkable, musical masterpiece.            I never forgot the feeling that swept through me as I learned this new, creative “language”.

•  

   

  I picked up a 5-string banjo of my brothers when I was 14, and as fate would have it, never put it down. It’s been my instrument of choice for performing since that day, and along the way, I learned how to use synthesizers and electronic composition as it evolved over the years, to create the orchestral arrangements that I heard in my head.

   

   

  I’ve been performing professionally since I was 22, and have been in 11 different music groups since then; all of them duos or trios. My music partner, Meg Chrysler and I were invited to play a concert in Russia in 1993. We traveled to tour with a jazz swing band to bring some of the original music of America to the Russian audiences, and performed on guitar and 5-string banjo. Interestingly, the 5-string is the ONLY native American instrument we have. (The 4 string version arrived on slave trade ships from Africa)

•  
•  

• Back here in the states, my music partner and I worked in dozens of restaurant/lounges over the years, and on the Royal Caribbean and Princess cruise lines.

 

 

 

• I opened a small songwriting company in the Pacific Northwest to write radio “jingles” for companies. I sold my first musical commercial to the city of Eugene, Oregon for the University of Oregon’s summer school. 

 

 

 

 

• Later on, working on a national childrens television show that I co-wrote and was produced on CBS stations as a prime-time family special, I was honored to receive an "Emmy Award" for co-writing the script and composing

• the music and lyrics for the program.

•  
•  

 

• In later years I wrote two stage musicals, each with 10 original orchestral tunes. I was able to hire a sound studio and some talented  singers to record all of the vocal tracks for the shows.

 

 

•  

• The biggest thrill for me in all of this was having professional vocalists sing my songs.  Hearing the tunes interpreted through different voices and bringing my lyrics and arrangements to life was both fascinating and exhilarating.    It was also expensive.

 

 

•  

• I have always had a sound studio in my home, and I began in earnest to compose with the new, experimental tools of digital recording. I often overlayed multiple tracks and recorded orchestral pieces (strings, horns,  etc.) adding many layers of music, along with my own vocals. The process was arduous and involved countless hours of computer work, but the end result was always worth the effort.

•  

• Artificial Intellegence (A.I.) music composition exploded in 2025, as a wave of anxiety swept over the commercial music industry. Suddenly, anyone could write a few lyrics and let Artificial Intelligence pull billions of vocal and instrument files from the Internet and turn them into a remarkable, near-professional sounding tune.

   

  It soon became evident to me that A.I. was not only here to stay, it was rapidly creating an entirely new world that was about to alter the course of not just music, but humanity--forever.

   

  I made the choice to study, learn and utilize A.I composition in my portfolio of 200 original songs,       

• with the intention of keeping ONLY my original lyrics, arrangements and orchestration, and to use the magic of A.I. to remove and replace my own vocals. 

•  

• I also programed  the new technology to add limited additional instrumentation, to kick my music up a notch.

• And the result is what you’ll hear on these pages.

   

•                        Thanks for taking a listen!

   

                          Khevin Barnes     Age :75

•            Musician           Lyricist            A.I. explorer.

 

I

 

                                                                                                                

                       Music Collection 2026

 

                          ALL SONGS REPEAT :  SELECT ANOTHER TITLE TO CONTINUE

 

   THE A.I. PROCESS OF MAKING MUSIC

COMPOSE THE LYRICS     

 CREATE THE TUNE

"AUDITION" A.I. VOCALISTS FOR FINAL MIX