"I’m hard at work now on a fifth Journeys album. The last one was released 17 years ago"
I grew up listening to and loving the Dveykus albums, Journeys, the Marvelous Middos Machine albums, The Golden Crown, and the Lev V’Nefesh albums were the background in carpool. When I was in elementary school, Aish 1 and Aish 2 were always on repeat. It takes someone very special to be able to compose and put out such beautiful material, and Abie gets the credit for so much beautiful material that is still so well known, sung all over, and appreciated by so many.
I still follow his advice every day at work (“Don’t you have to put in the plug? The plug… The plug?? Oh! The plug!! Yes Shnooky, put it into the wall!” — Marvelous Middos Machine 1), and I’ve tried to follow his recommendations when deciding that music to listen to (“But one thing we must keep in mind, a Jewish song of any kind, is only precious if and when, it brings us closer to Hashem” — “We’ve Got The Music,” Journeys 3), so I consider myself a bit of a talmid.
Many composers from over the years (Rav Shmuel Brazil, Yigal Calek, Baruch Levine, to name a few) have come from a chinuch background, as you did. Has that made a difference in your compositions?
My background in chinuch has definitely contributed to the content and quality of the lyrics. I’m not sure it impacts one’s ability to write a popular niggun, though.
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