This is a transcript of a conversation between Adam Smith and Claude Opus 4 on June 28, 2025. The conversation was lightly edited to replace otherwise invisible tool calls with their structured inputs and outputs. The music described in the conversation (or at least one possible realization of it) is available for listening via links at the end of the transcript.
A choice tool (involving the options key) makes an arbitrary choice from the the LLM-provided options uniformly at random (no human judgement involved). The roll tool (associated with the notation key) works similarly. Both tools were created by Adam on the same day as this conversation with an intent to use them in this kind of speculative fabulation.
We need to release an album, but we don't even know what our band is called. Let's pull some personas from the possibility space and use those to build up a concept for the album and the narrative trajectory of the songs it contains.
What an exciting creative project! Let's start by pulling some band personas from the possibility space and see what emerges.
{
"options": [
"Ethereal folk duo from Pacific Northwest",
"Gritty garage rock trio from Detroit",
"Experimental electronic collective from Berlin",
"Neo-soul R&B group from Atlanta",
"Indie pop band from coastal California",
"Post-punk revival quartet from Manchester",
"Ambient drone project from Iceland",
"Jazz fusion ensemble from New Orleans",
"Synthwave producer collective from Miami",
"Alternative country band from Austin"
]
}
"Alternative country band from Austin"
Great! We've got an alternative country band from Austin. Now let's explore some potential band names that would fit this persona:
{
"options": [
"The Lone Star Drifters",
"Cactus Moon",
"Highway 35 South",
"Red River Revival",
"The Austin Outsiders",
"Mockingbird Station",
"Broken Arrow Creek",
"The Hill Country Ghosts",
"Sunset & Steel",
"The Amarillo Sessions"
]
}
"Highway 35 South"
Perfect! Highway 35 South - that's a great name that evokes movement, journey, and the Texas landscape. Now let's develop the album concept:
{
"options": [
"Migration story of leaving small town for the city",
"Love lost and found across different Texas towns",
"Environmental meditation on changing landscapes",
"Generational family saga spanning decades",
"Road trip through abandoned America",
"Coming-of-age story set against oil boom/bust",
"Ghost towns and forgotten histories",
"Modern cowboy struggling with technology",
"Border stories and cultural identity",
"Music scene veterans reflecting on changes"
]
}
"Environmental meditation on changing landscapes"
Excellent! So Highway 35 South is creating an album that's an environmental meditation on changing landscapes - perfect for an Austin alt-country band. Now let's determine the album title:
{
"options": [
"Concrete Rivers",
"Where The Prairie Ends",
"Asphalt & Mesquite",
"The Last Wild Place",
"Subdivisions",
"When Giants Fell",
"Sacred & Profane Ground",
"The Developer's Dream",
"Roots & Ruins",
"Native Son"
]
}
"Asphalt & Mesquite"
Beautiful! The album is called "Asphalt & Mesquite" - a perfect title that captures the tension between development and nature. Now let's create the narrative trajectory by determining how many tracks and the overall arc:
{
"notation": "1d4+8"
}
{
"notation": "1d4+8",
"individual_rolls": [
2
],
"base_sum": 2,
"modifier": 8,
"final_result": 10,
"breakdown": "2 +8 = 10"
}
10 tracks - perfect for a cohesive narrative album. Let me generate the track listing that tells the story of environmental change:
{
"options": [
"Start with pristine landscape",
"Start with current degraded state",
"Start with moment of change",
"Start with memory/nostalgia",
"Start with arrival of development"
]
}
"Start with memory/nostalgia"
The Concept: An environmental meditation on Texas landscapes caught between preservation and development, told through the lens of an alt-country band that's witnessed Austin's transformation.
Narrative Arc: Beginning with nostalgic memories of wild Texas, moving through the arrival of development, the conflicts and losses, moments of resistance, and ending with a complex acceptance and hope for coexistence.
Track Listing:
- "Granddaddy's Land" - Opening with warm memories of untouched ranch land, setting the pristine baseline
- "First Surveyors" - The arrival of development scouts, tension building
- "Bulldozer Blues" - The heartbreak of watching natural spaces destroyed
- "Neon on the Prairie" - Urban sprawl replacing grasslands, cultural displacement
- "Where the Armadillos Roam" - Mid-album reflection on what wildlife remains
- "Town Hall Showdown" - Community resistance and political battles
- "Sacred Grove" - A protected space, hope and defiance
- "New Neighbors" - Learning to coexist with change
- "Highway 35 South" - The title track about movement and adaptation
- "Mesquite Moon" - Closing with nature's persistence and resilience
The album flows from pure nostalgia through conflict to a nuanced understanding that change is inevitable, but some things endure. Classic alt-country themes of place, loss, and resilience, but with an environmental consciousness that feels very contemporary.
What do you think of this concept? Should we develop any of these song concepts further?
Backstory
Let's dive deep into the backstory of Highway 35 South and discover their origins:
{
"options": [
"Formed by childhood friends who grew up on adjacent ranches",
"College bandmates who bonded over environmental studies",
"Former city workers turned musicians after witnessing development firsthand",
"Multigenerational family band spanning different perspectives on change"
]
}
"Formed by childhood friends who grew up on adjacent ranches"
Perfect! Now let's establish the founding members and their specific backgrounds:
{
"options": [
"Two singer-songwriters + rhythm section",
"Three-piece with rotating lead vocals",
"Classic four-piece rock setup",
"Five-piece with fiddle/steel guitar"
]
}
"Three-piece with rotating lead vocals"
...
{
"options": [
"All three inherited family land that's under development pressure",
"One sold the family ranch, two still fighting to keep theirs",
"Ranch land was lost to eminent domain for highway expansion",
"Families were bought out but at very different times/prices"
]
}
"All three inherited family land that's under development pressure"
Now let's determine how long they've been performing and what triggered this particular album:
{
"notation": "2d6+2"
}
{
"notation": "2d6+2",
"individual_rolls": [
4,
4
],
"base_sum": 8,
"modifier": 2,
"final_result": 10,
"breakdown": "(4 + 4) +2 = 10"
}
...
{
"options": [
"Major development announcement that would connect their three properties",
"Drought forcing difficult decisions about land use",
"Death of mentor figure who taught them about the land",
"Discovery of rare species on their combined property"
]
}
"Major development announcement that would connect their three properties"
Formation: 10 years ago, three childhood friends from adjacent ranch properties south of Austin formed Highway 35 South after reuniting at a local honky-tonk's open mic night. They'd grown up riding between each other's family land, sharing the same swimming holes, hunting grounds, and starlit horizons.
The Band:
- Maya Castellanos (lead vocals, acoustic guitar) - Her family's been raising cattle on 200 acres since the 1940s
- Tyler "Ty" McBride (vocals, bass, harmonica) - Third-generation on a mixed farming operation with goats and hay
- Sam Chen (vocals, drums, occasional mandolin) - Family moved from California in the 80s, built a sustainable horse ranch
The Catalyst: Six months ago, all three received certified letters on the same day. A major development corporation announced plans for "Hill Country Commons" - a massive mixed-use development with luxury homes, shopping centers, and corporate campuses that would span all three of their properties. The development would be connected by a new frontage road system linking directly to Highway 35.
Current Situation: Each family is facing intense financial pressure. Property taxes have skyrocketed due to the area's "development potential." The offers are substantial - enough to buy land elsewhere - but it would mean the end of a way of life that's defined their families for generations. The three friends found themselves meeting weekly, guitars in hand, trying to process their feelings about this impossible choice.
"Asphalt & Mesquite" Genesis: The album began as therapy sessions in Maya's barn, but evolved into something bigger when they realized their story was echoing across rural Texas. They're not just making music about their own land - they're documenting a disappearing world.
The Stakes: The development's environmental impact study is complete. Groundbreaking is scheduled for next spring. This album might be their last chance to capture what this place sounds like before it changes forever.
What specific aspect of their backstory would you like to explore deeper? The individual family histories? The development pressures? Their musical evolution over the decade?
Plan to stand out in the 2025 media landscape.
Let's figure out their strategy for breaking through in 2025's crowded media landscape:
{
"options": [
"Viral environmental activism angle",
"Immersive location-based content",
"AI-human collaboration concept",
"Real-time documentary approach"
]
}
"Immersive location-based content"
Perfect! Now let's determine their specific platform strategy:
{
"options": [
"AR ranch tours with songs",
"360° concerts in threatened locations",
"Interactive land-loss timeline",
"GPS-triggered song releases"
]
}
"GPS-triggered song releases"
Brilliant! Let's define their unique distribution model:
{
"options": [
"Songs unlock only when physically at specific coordinates",
"Digital breadcrumb trail across their properties",
"Time-sensitive releases tied to development milestones",
"Weather-dependent song availability"
]
}
"Time-sensitive releases tied to development milestones"
Now let's determine their media partnership approach:
{
"options": [
"Partner with environmental documentarians",
"Collaborate with land rights activists",
"Work with tech companies on location services",
"Team up with other threatened communities"
]
}
"Team up with other threatened communities"
Core Concept: "Asphalt & Mesquite" won't be released as a traditional album. Instead, it's a time-sensitive, milestone-triggered musical documentary that unfolds in real-time alongside the actual development process.
The Release Strategy:
Phase 1: The Coalition (January 2025)
- Partner with 10 other rural communities facing similar development pressure across North America
- Each track releases only when specific development milestones occur (permits filed, environmental studies completed, groundbreaking begins, etc.)
- Creates a network of synchronized stories - when Highway 35 South releases "Bulldozer Blues," partnering communities release their own versions
Phase 2: The Digital Trail (March-December 2025)
- GPS-locked content: Full songs only available when listeners physically visit the threatened locations
- Countdown mechanics: Each track has a "time left" timer based on actual development schedules
- Community features: Local residents can upload their own audio memories that get woven into extended versions
Phase 3: The Archive (End of each development phase)
- Once a location is developed, its song becomes permanently available globally but transforms into a "memorial mix" with field recordings from before/after
Platform Innovation:
- TikTok: Short teaser videos showing real construction progress vs. song snippets
- Spotify: Dynamic playlists that update based on listener location and development news
- YouTube: Live-streamed "ranch cams" with ambient audio that changes as development progresses
- Custom app: "Land Lines" - combines GPS, development tracking, and music discovery
Media Hooks for 2025:
- "Music you can lose forever" - urgency drives engagement
- Real environmental stakes - not just metaphorical
- Community-driven narrative - fans become citizen journalists
- Cross-platform storytelling that makes every development update newsworthy
The Algorithm Advantage: Each development milestone generates new content, keeping them consistently in feeds. The geographic limitations create artificial scarcity that drives sharing and travel.
This turns their album into a living document and their fanbase into an environmental monitoring network. What specific aspect of this strategy should we develop further?
In media res
Let's drop into the middle of their campaign and see where we land:
{
"options": [
"July: Track 6 'Town Hall Showdown' just triggered",
"September: Viral TikTok moment during construction",
"October: App crashes during major release",
"August: First partnering community loses their land",
"June: Unexpected celebrity endorsement changes everything"
]
}
"September: Viral TikTok moment during construction"
Now let's see what specific moment went viral:
{
"options": [
"Sam playing drums on excavator bucket",
"Maya singing to confused construction workers",
"Ty's harmonica duet with a bulldozer beeping",
"Sunrise performance as trees get cut down",
"Workers joining in on chorus during lunch break"
]
}
"Workers joining in on chorus during lunch break"
Let's determine the scale of this viral moment:
{
"notation": "1d6+2"
}
{
"notation": "1d6+2",
"individual_rolls": [
4
],
"base_sum": 4,
"modifier": 2,
"final_result": 6,
"breakdown": "4 +2 = 6"
}
6 million views! Now let's see what the immediate consequences are:
{
"options": [
"Development company tries to shut them down",
"Major record label interest",
"Construction workers start a counter-movement",
"Media circus descends on the ranch",
"App downloads crash their servers"
]
}
"Media circus descends on the ranch"
The Viral Moment: Three days ago, Maya set up to perform "Highway 35 South" (Track 9) solo at the construction site during the workers' lunch break—standard content for their TikTok documentation. But when she reached the chorus ("We're all just trying to find our way home"), six construction workers spontaneously joined in.
The foreman, a guy named Carlos whose grandfather lost his farm to I-35's original expansion in the '60s, knew every word. The video shows hard hats bobbing in rhythm, work boots keeping time, and voices harmonizing against the backdrop of half-demolished fence posts.
6 million views in 72 hours.
Current Chaos (Maya's perspective, 2:47 PM):
"There are twelve news vans in my pasture. TWELVE. Channel 8's reporter just asked me if this was all a publicity stunt while standing next to the water trough my great-grandfather built. I can't get to my own barn without stepping over camera cables.
The construction has actually STOPPED because there are so many people here. Carlos texted me this morning—the development company is furious, threatening to fire anyone who talks to media. But the workers have started their own TikTok account: @hardhatharmonies. They're posting videos of themselves singing our songs during breaks.
Our app crashed at 2.8 million downloads yesterday. Sam's been on the phone with our tech guy for sixteen straight hours. We're hemorrhaging money on server costs we never budgeted for.
Tyler's hiding in the creek bed with his bass, trying to write new material while TMZ literally circles overhead in a helicopter.
The weirdest part? Three more development companies called today wanting to hire us to 'humanize their projects.' I hung up on all of them.
But here's the thing that's keeping me awake: this was supposed to be about saving our land. Now everyone's talking about the band, not the bulldozers. Are we losing the plot, or is this exactly what we needed?"
Breaking: Construction worker Carlos just posted a video response to the development company's gag order. It's been viewed 400k times in the last hour.
Next Crisis: The development company's emergency board meeting is tomorrow. Highway 35 South has 18 hours to decide: lean into the chaos or try to control the narrative?
What's their next move?
What's the song? (Let's write the lyrics. Maybe get more precise about the genre and production style first.)
Let's define the precise sound and production style of "Highway 35 South" before writing the lyrics:
{
"options": [
"Stripped-down acoustic with pedal steel",
"Full band with vintage tube amps",
"Modern alt-country with electronic elements",
"Traditional honky-tonk arrangement"
]
}
"Traditional honky-tonk arrangement"
...
{
"options": [
"Maya solo on this track",
"Three-part harmony throughout",
"Trading verses between members",
"Maya leads with others on chorus only"
]
}
"Three-part harmony throughout"
Perfect! Now let's craft the lyrics for "Highway 35 South" - the track that went viral with the construction workers.
Traditional honky-tonk arrangement with three-part harmony throughout Tempo: Steady two-step shuffle Key: G major Production: Live-tracked at Willie Nelson's Pedernales Studio, vintage Neve board
Verse 1 (All three voices weaving):
The blacktop's burning under August sun
Mile markers counting what we've lost and won
Daddy's truck still rattles at that same old curve
Where the pavement ends and lessons learned
Verse 2:
Remember racing storms down to the coast
Windows down and singing what we loved the most
Now there's orange cones where bluebonnets grew
Progress has a different point of view
Chorus (Full three-part harmony, the hook that caught fire):
We're all just trying to find our way home
Down Highway 35 South alone
Some folks are building, some are breaking ground
We're all just trying to find our way home
Verse 3:
Carlos says his granddad knew this road
When it was dirt and stories yet untold
Every worker here's got family land somewhere
That got paved over, developed with care
Verse 4:
So here's to all the in-between places
Neither wild nor tamed, just changing faces
We're not enemies, just different kinds of lost
Calculating what survival costs
Chorus:
We're all just trying to find our way home
Down Highway 35 South alone
Some folks are building, some are breaking ground
We're all just trying to find our way home
Bridge (Instruments drop out, just voices and light percussion):
Maya: The maps keep changing
Tyler: But the stars stay true
Sam: Every road leads somewhere
All: Every job sees someone through
Final Chorus (Building back up):
We're all just trying to find our way home
Down Highway 35 South alone
Some folks are building, some are breaking ground
We're all just trying to find our way home
We're all just trying to find our way home
Outro (Fading, work-song rhythm):
(Highway 35, Highway 35)
(Taking us home, keeping us alive)
Production notes:
- Classic Texas shuffle on drums (Sam uses brushes)
- Tyler's bass walks that classic country line
- Maya's acoustic guitar, capoed at 2nd fret
- Guest musician: Lloyd Maines on pedal steel
- Three-part harmony inspired by Trio (Dolly/Linda/Emmylou) but rougher, more lived-in
- Mixed deliberately "hot" with slight compression to sound good on phone speakers and construction sites
This is the song that resonated because it doesn't demonize anyone - it acknowledges that everyone's just trying to make a living, whether they're playing music or pouring concrete. The constructions workers heard themselves in it.
What's in the liner notes for this track?
{
"options": [
"Handwritten field notes",
"Historical documentation",
"Community voices compilation",
"Technical recording details",
"Environmental impact data"
]
}
"Historical documentation"
From the Asphalt & Mesquite Limited Edition Booklet
Track 9 recorded June 18, 2025, Pedernales Studio, Spicewood, TX
Mixed June 20, 2025 (two days before demolition notice arrived)
The History We're Standing On
Highway 35 runs 1,568 miles from Laredo to Duluth, but this song is about our 47-mile stretch. The original cattle trail here was established in 1867. When the highway commission came through in 1962, they promised it would "bring prosperity to rural Texas."
My grandfather kept the condemnation letter. I keep it in my guitar case:
"The State of Texas requires 4.7 acres of the McBride Ranch for public use. Fair market value has been assessed at $312. Failure to vacate by December 1, 1962 will result in forcible removal." — Tyler
Found Audio Transcript (woven into the bridge at 2:47): From a 1962 KTBC radio interview with Luis Castellanos (Maya's grandfather):
"They say the road brings progress. But progress for who? My cattle know every tree on that land they're taking. Where will they find shade?"
The Carlos Connection
Carlos Delgado (construction foreman, viral video) sent us this text the night before we recorded:
"My family got pushed off land near San Marcos for I-35 in '61. Now I'm pushing others off theirs. But we all got kids to feed. Play something that understands that."
We added his grandfather's name to the writing credits. Seemed right.
Archaeological Note
During site prep, workers uncovered a Tonkawa grinding stone near what would become the sound barrier wall. It's now in Sam's drum kit bag. You can hear it keeping time in the outro—that clicking sound isn't a shaker.
The Exit Sign
Three facts about Exit 217 (our exit):
- Highest traffic fatality rate on this stretch of 35
- Last place you can see the Balcones Fault before Austin sprawl takes over
- Where we met every Sunday this spring to decide whether to take the buyout
Technical Notes
- The "road noise" in the intro is actual construction backup beepers recorded at 5:47 AM
- Lloyd Maines' pedal steel was his father's, used on the original Flatlanders sessions
- We kept Carlos's TikTok handle (@hardhatcarlos) in the metadata as co-producer
- The hawk call at 3:22 was unplanned—flew over during the take
Water Rights
What the song doesn't mention: The development's water needs will drain the Cross Creek aquifer. Our three ranches share that water. Without it, even if we keep the land, we can't keep the cattle.
QR Code: Scan to unlock GPS coordinates for the last undeveloped curve of our stretch. Available until first concrete pour: November 2025.
"Some folks are building, some are breaking ground" wasn't just a line. It was an understanding.
— Highway 35 South
Do another song’s lyrics.
Let's pick which track to write next:
{
"options": [
"Track 1: Granddaddy's Land - opening nostalgia",
"Track 3: Bulldozer Blues - the heartbreak song",
"Track 5: Where the Armadillos Roam - wildlife elegy",
"Track 7: Sacred Grove - the resistance anthem"
]
}
"Track 1: Granddaddy's Land - opening nostalgia"
Perfect! Let's define the sound for the album opener:
{
"options": [
"Solo acoustic guitar finger-picking",
"Full band western swing",
"Stripped-down Carter Family style",
"Campfire singalong style"
]
}
"Campfire singalong style"
Campfire singalong style - one guitar, voices joining gradually Key: D major Production: Live single-take in Maya's barn at sunset
Verse 1 (Maya alone, finger-picked guitar):
Granddaddy bought this piece in '43
Fresh home from fighting overseas
Saved every penny working oil rigs hard
For 200 acres and this old yard
Verse 2 (Tyler's harmony joins):
He'd wake before the rooster crew
Walk the fence line in the morning dew
Said you can't own land, just borrow time
Keep it healthy, leave it better than you find
Chorus (All three, campfire style):
This was granddaddy's land
Worked by granddaddy's hands
Every spring he'd plant, every fall he'd pray
Swore it'd never go away
This was granddaddy's land
Verse 3 (Sam takes lead, others hum):
He'd sit right here and tell us kids
About the Comanche trails the creek still hid
How the big oak fell in the storm of '61
But the roots held on when the damage was done
Verse 4 (All three trading lines):
Maya: Taught us to read the weather in the leaves
Tyler: To save half of whatever the garden conceived
Sam: That barbed wire's just a temporary thing
All: But the mockingbird will always sing
Chorus:
This was granddaddy's land
Worked by granddaddy's hands
Every spring he'd plant, every fall he'd pray
Swore it'd never go away
This was granddaddy's land
Bridge (Spoken/sung, guitar drops to quiet picking):
He died in December on a Tuesday afternoon
We buried him out back beneath the moon
And I can hear him laughing at what we're trying to save
'Cause nobody owns nothing once they're in the grave
Final Verse (Building back up):
But still we hold these deeds like prayer
Still breathe this dusty August air
If land is time that we just borrow
I'm not ready for tomorrow
Final Chorus (Slowing down, reflective):
This is granddaddy's land
We're granddaddy's hands
Every spring we plant, every fall we pray
How'd we let it get away?
This was granddaddy's land
Outro (Just guitar and cricket sounds):
This was granddaddy's land...
This was granddaddy's land...
Production Notes:
- Recorded with a single 1952 Martin D-18 that belonged to Maya's grandfather
- Natural reverb from the barn
- You can hear horses in the distance at 2:14
- The cricket sounds are from that night - we opened all the barn doors
- No click track - follows the natural breathing rhythm of the story
- Mixed to sound like you're sitting in the circle with them
This opener sets the whole album's tone - it's deeply personal but universal, rooted in specific family history but speaking to anyone who's watched a place they love change. The campfire style makes listeners feel like they're part of the community from track one.
- Track 9: Highway 35 South
- Track 1: Granddaddy’s Land