The hottest “new” name on the Christian charts isn’t a pop-up label plant or Nashville industry creation — it’s an AI-generated artist dreamed up by conservative hip-hop star Christopher “Topher” Townsend. And his rise is rattling the music machine.
“Solomon Ray,” billed as a Mississippi-born soul singer reviving classic Southern gospel vibes, just shot to No. 1 on the iTunes Christian & Gospel chart with his new Christmas EP A Soulful Christmas. The visuals, the voice, the charisma — all AI. But behind the machine is a very real creator with a very real message.
Townsend — known for his work with Veterans for Trump and for having his hit “The Patriot” scrubbed from Spotify after January 6 — says this AI project is just another outlet for his creativity. “This is an extension of my art,” he told fans. “It’s inspired by a Christian. God can use any vehicle — even AI.”
But not everyone is thrilled.
Christian singer Forrest Frank publicly questioned the rise of AI worship music, arguing that creations without a human soul — and without the Holy Spirit — shouldn’t be shaping people’s spiritual lives. “AI does not have the Holy Spirit inside of it,” he said. “It’s weird to open your spirit to something that has no spirit.”
Townsend fired back, calling Frank’s criticism “gatekeeping,” and insisting the message matters more than the medium. For him, AI isn’t replacing artists — it’s bypassing the same legacy platforms that ban, shadowblock, and blacklist conservative voices.
The plot twist? There is a real musician named Solomon Ray — a worship leader from Montana — who suddenly found friends texting him thinking he’d topped the charts overnight. He laughed it off but admitted it’s discouraging to see people fooled. “There’s something in the high end of the vocals that gives it away,” he said, noting AI’s overly precise sonic texture.
Still, the bigger conversation is exploding fast: What counts as “real” Christian music? Who decides? And why does the same industry that embraced autotune, click tracks, and polished mega-church production lines suddenly draw the line at AI?
Some listeners see AI music as cheap and “soulless.” Others see it as the next evolution in a genre that has always been part ministry, part media, part business — and a place where tech has always moved faster than the gatekeepers wanted.
For Townsend, AI is simply a tool — one he controls, not one controlled by the woke labels that froze him out. And judging by the chart numbers, millions of listeners don’t seem bothered.
Whether fans embrace or reject AI, one thing is clear: conservatives are no longer letting Big Music dictate who gets to make faith-based art — or what it’s supposed to look like. Solomon Ray may not be human, but the fight behind him definitely is.
