"What Cowboys Dream Of (If They Dream)" is artist personal homage to old spaghetti westerns. Liad Abraham is an Israeli composer and guitarist who has become obsessed with dark country music in the last six months. The song is from his upcoming album, which draws heavily from folk music, dark, gritty country, and soundtracks. Over the last two years, he has released his music on Spotify to great success, amassing over 200K monthly listeners from all over the world. Liad's music is most popular in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Australia.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
What strengths do you have that you believe make you a great musician?
So, first of all, thanks for having me. That's a great title you bestowed on me there, so thanks again for that inspiring compliment. I certainly always strived to be a great musician. I studied guitar for many, many years, with the best teachers I could find all over Israel. And as anyone who grew in a western classical music enviorment, I spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours practicing my guitar. There were times when my practice routine would take up to eight hours a day. So, that must have contributed something. I try to synergize in my compositions many different genres, from folk, dark country, fantasy and classical, and wrap it all with a very personal, signature sound.
Who inspired you to make music?
That's a tough one to answer. I started guitar lessons at somewhat of a late age, around 14. But I only started writing my own music way down the line, when I was around 40. I think it was right around the time my twin daughters were born. I guess I (unconceiously) felt like I need to create something to give them, or something they could look up to and be proud of. If you're talking music inspirations they come from so many different genres, but here are a few: René Aubry, Philip Glass, Bear McCreary, Leo Brouwer, Gustavo Santaolalla, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page, to name a few.
Your latest track is 'What Cowboys Dream Of (If They Dream)'. Can you share with us the background of its creation and did any unusual things happen during its creation?
Well, the track itself is unusal. It was the first track I wrote with my own vocals in mind. It started as this slow bluesy guitar riff, but very quickly I found myself humming while playing my guitar. If you had asked me three years ago if I ever imagine myself recording my voice for a piece of music, I would probably have laughed. But here, it felt like a natural evolvement of my music making. So natural, that I have a few similiar tracks lined up for the next few monts.
What is your creative process like?
Usually what I do is first I make sure I have at least a few hours to work. I don't feel inspired if I know I only have like 40 minutes to work on new music. Then I start playing my guitar, always in accordance with my voice, and start looking for interesting ideas. In most sessions I can come with anywhere from 3-5 ideas like these. They can be a short melody, an interesting chord progression or a really cool riff. Then I start connecting the dots and making a coherent song out of some of these ideas. Sometimes, it's a super quick process. For instance, I just released a new Track called Fragments, it took literally an hour to write from the minute I started till the song was finished. Sometime, this process will play back and forth for a few days. Some musical ideas stay on the editing floor, others will be used in the future.
What is the biggest decision you’ve had to make?
Well, as a working musician you make a lot of these. I think the biggest one was right after I finished studying for my B. Music degree in the Jerusalem music academy. I was in touch with a few universities abroad, mainly in Canada and Germany, as I was keen on continuing my studies there. It's a very common thing for musicians to finish their studies abroad, I even started a course in German language to get all my options covered. It was around this time that my mother was diagnosed with MS illness, so I eventually decided to stay here. She needed the family near her and I couldn't let my sister (12 years younger than me) carry the burden alone. When I was younger I often returned to this decision, wondering if I didn't miss an amazing opportunity, but right now I am in such a beautiful place in my professional life that I don't regret anything. Every step I took was necesary to get me to the exact point I'm at.
What makes you different from others?
Probably the fact I waited so long to write my own music. I'm basicaly like a musical sponge that for 40 years absorbed an insane amount of musical ideas from an essortment of different genres, before giving back to the world. I feel constantly inspired, with an endless, burning passion to create.
What is one message you would give to your fans?
Embrace changes. And I mean in every aspect of your life. Changes will come, wether you want them to, or try to avoid them. Change is growth, it's reinventing yourselves. When I was younger I was horrified of changes, but with age I've slowly learned to accept them for what they are: The biggest lesson we can get in self growth.
How do you feel the Internet has impacted the music business?
Well, to be honest I think it's a process we can't even comprehend fully, because we're kinda in the middle of it. Things changed at an incredible rate over the last 20 years. For indie artists, I think this is a game changer process. Never was it this easy for us to record, release music, apply for labels, or nurture fans in every corner of the world. Same goes for booking concerts ofc, or getting your music in a film. These ideas were crazy sience fiction for people making music 30 years ago. I think we have a lot to be thankful for.
What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
Ok, that's the easiest question so far. My twin daughters, the light of my life. They are three and a half years old now, and hands down, the best thing that ever happened to me.
What are your plans for the future?
I've been releasing a lot of music for the last year, usually two tracks each month. The two following ones are really special and close to my heart. The first is a beautiful folk song I wrote with my friend from Germany, Alina Lesnik, a singer-songwriter with a phenomenal voice. The song is called "Far Away", and we love it so much that we decided to simultaneously release both an English and a German Version. Two weeks later I'm releasing a piece I wrote with a my friend the cellist composer Roxane Genot, it's called "Extremely Rare, But Not Unheard Of" and it's probably the most romantic piece of music I ever wrote. Highly excited to share these songs with our fans worldwide. I'm also trying to orchestrate a mini tour in Germany for later this year, around the release of my next album. I really hope I can make this come true, as I've been planning to visit for a while. Let's hope covid will be on my side without any new variant waves.