Lifelong musician and educator Happy Traum died on July 17 in Manhattan, NY, following surgery and rehab for pancreatic cancer. He was 86 years of age.
Born Harry Peter Traum on May 9, 1938, in New York City, Happy, as he came to be known, had two prominent arcs to his notable career. First, as a fingerstyle guitarist and folksinger in the 1960s, and with his brother, Artie, in the 1970s, and as a pioneer in acoustic string music education as the author of numerous instructional books for Music Sales, and as the co-founder, with his wife, Jane, of Homespun Tapes, now known simply as Homespun.
As a performer and recording artist, Traum’s impact was primarily in the world of folk music, where he was a big part of the re-popularization of delta blues guitar playing in the ’60s. Having studied with Brownie McGhee, he took this distinctive finger style guitar approach to stages in America’s northeast where folk music of many kinds was enjoying a rebirth.
He came to the attention of folk music lovers in the early ’60s as part of the Washington Square scene, a hot spot in the Greenwich Village section of New York which is seen as the birthplace of 1960s folk music in the US. There he met, befriended, and soon recorded with fellow luminaries like Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and others for a Folkways Records project. With The New World Singers, Happy sang the first recorded cut of Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind.
Happy recorded again with Dylan in 1971, singing harmony and playing guitar, banjo, and bass on You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere, Down In the Flood, I Shall Be Released, and Only A Hobo during the Basement Tapes era of the folk legend. Traum became a significant part of the folk and bluegrass community where he, Jane, and Artie lived in Woodstock, NY, and recorded several albums with The Woodstock Mountains Revue, which also included Bill Keith, Jim Rooney, Cindy Cashdollar, John Sebastian, Maria Muldaur, and many others.
For three years in the mid-’60s he served as editor for Sing Out! magazine, the printed voice of folk music and the activism it engendered, and contributed instructional columns to Acoustic Guitar, Guitar Player, and Rolling Stone. His published books for guitarists were among the first of their sort, with titles like Bluegrass Guitar, The Blues Bag, The Blues Guitar of Brownie McGhee, Basic Guitar Lessons, Folk Guitar as a Profession, Flatpick Country Guitar, and The Children’s Guitar Guide.
He and Jane launched Homespun Tapes in 1967, initially selling a collection of cassette audio tapes with printed tablature based on the playing of top artists of the day. Early releases for artists like Sam Bush, Bill Monroe, Béla Fleck, and Bob Carlin revolutionized the way people learned acoustic instruments. Their presentations moved to CD as that technology arrived, and then to video tape and DVD where the company continues to produce some of the most sought after teaching methods for most every type of string playing. These days many can be purchased for download viewing as well, with more than 500 titles available.
Happy continued to perform and record, though Homespun took up much of his time until he retired after he and Jane had contributed more than 55 years to the business. 2022 saw his final recorded release, There’s a Bright Side Somewhere, again with his neighbors and friends in Woodstock.
During his life Traum performed at major folk festivals all over the world, and taught at guitar workshops throughout the US.
In addition to his musical contributions, Happy was known for his peaceable personality, warm smile, and ready friendship. A great many people are mourning his passing, but he has left us a sizable legacy whose impact will be felt for decades.
R.I.P., Happy Traum.
