AUSTIN, TEXAS (July 28, 2026) — At the center of James Houston Turner’s latest music video is an old rocking chair. For Turner, the ‘rocking chair’ metaphor was grounded in two objects. The first was a springy red-and-white metal chair his mom used to rock him as a baby. When that season passed, his grandfather, who was living with them, sat in that same chair in their yard, where he would feed the rabbits, birds, and squirrels.

The second point of inspiration was an oak kitchen table his parents bought as a wedding present for themselves in 1940. “When I was born years later,” he recalls, “Mom changed my diapers on that table. From grade school onward, it became my workbench for chemistry, woodworking, and electrical experiments, and it still bears the scars of those experiments. That old table was also our family dinner table around which we would debate important issues like which brand of spark plug worked best in Chevrolets, or which crop was it that grew out south of town (milo or brome, which Dad and my granddad debated for years).”

But Turner says there is another point of inspiration, and it is his granddaughter, Alex.

“When Alex was four, my wife and I went for a visit, and I still have a photo of Alex looking at me with the same adoration you see in the family image above. And while there are no depictions of actual persons in this image apart from the stylized image of me, Alex inspired the look in the depicted granddaughter’s eyes.”

Turner does not try to hide his use of AI. “I used AI to reconstruct that family image,” he admits, “as well as produce the entire music video built around lyrics that I personally wrote. FYI, I did try singing the lyrics myself, and while AI and Premiere Pro have features that can make a donkey sound like a canary, I found myself relegated to what must be a special category of donkeys for whom canary music is forever beyond reach. And because I wanted a final product that was “listenable” for you, I used AI to design the right studio voices and instrumentation to handle the vocals and soundtrack. It took many hours of direction for me to accomplish this, especially because I would not surrender the director’s chair. The lyrics and melody were mine and I wanted this music video to sound a certain way. So I battled it out with AI and in the end got my way.”

In the hands of a writer and creator, Turner believes AI is a powerful tool. But he confesses it can also be used by cheaters to replace creators and generate slop. “As some of you recall, an AI company stole the text of my novel, Dragon Head, to teach their programs how to write fiction. That is what I am against, not the AI tool box itself. Cheaters and thieves have been around since the dawn of time. I remember ‘cheat sheets’ in high school and college that were written on arms and even sticks of gum. I remember exam students peeking across at the smart kid’s answer sheet. That’s why I am so adamant about using AI the right way. As a creator who has researched and authored a master’s thesis, a series of action thriller novels, several award-winning screenplays, and who wrote, produced, and edited a feature film, I know the value of legitimate authorship. AI has simply afforded me, an indie author and producer, the tools required to bring to life a musical version of a micro-story that I wrote. AI will also be playing a big part in future projects Ruby Rock Films has in the pipeline.”

This Rockin’ Chair is available FREE on Turner’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/jameshoustonturner.

This Rockin’ Chair as a soundtrack is available on Spotify and other platforms via: Ditto Music. 

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