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Happy Traum

Happy Traum
Traum in 1970
Traum in 1970
Background information
Birth nameHarry Peter Traum
Born(1938-05-09)May 9, 1938
New York City, U.S.
DiedJuly 17, 2024(2024-07-17) (aged 86)
GenresFolk
OccupationFolk musician
Instrument(s)Guitar, vocals

Harry Peter "Happy" Traum (May 9, 1938 – July 17, 2024) was an American folk musician who started playing around Washington Square in the late 1950s. He became a stalwart of the Greenwich Village music scene of the 1960s and the Woodstock music community of the 1970s and 1980s.

Early life

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Traum was born on May 9, 1938 in the Bronx, New York City,[1] to parents who were of German Jewish heritage (on his father's side) and English and Dutch heritage (on his mother's side).[2] "Happy" was a family nickname. He attended New York City's competitive High School of Music & Art.[3] As a teenager, Traum frequented the folk music gatherings at Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.[4] He received his bachelor's degree at New York University.

Career

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Traum first appeared on record at a historic session in late 1962 when a group of young folk musicians, including Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Peter LaFarge, and The Freedom Singers, gathered in the studio at Folkways Records to record an album called Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1.[5] With his group, The New World Singers, Traum cut the first version of "Blowin' in the Wind" to be released (early 1963).[6] Traum also sang a duet with Dylan, who performed under the pseudonym Blind Boy Grunt, on his anti-war song "Let Me Die in My Footsteps". These tracks were re-released in August 2000 by Smithsonian Folkways as part of a boxed set, The Best of Broadside 1962 - 1988: Anthems from the American Underground.[citation needed] Later that year, The New World Singers, which featured Traum, Bob Cohen, and Gil Turner, recorded an album for Atlantic Records, with liner notes by Dylan. The album featured the first recording of Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right".

For several years, Traum studied blues guitar with Brownie McGhee, who was a big influence on his guitar style. He was known as one half of Happy and Artie Traum, a duo he began with his brother.[7] They released several albums, including Happy and Artie Traum (1969, Capitol records),[8] Double Back (1971, Capitol), and Hard Times In The Country (1975, Rounder). He continued as a solo artist and as founder of Homespun Music Instruction.

In 1971 Traum once again joined Dylan in the studio, playing guitar, banjo, bass, and singing harmony on four songs, which appeared on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II and The Bootleg Series Vol. 10 – Another Self Portrait (1969–1971).[1] Dylan also invited Happy to participate in a famous session with poet Allen Ginsberg, which resulted in the box set Holy Soul Jelly Roll.[9]

Death

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Traum died on July 17, 2024, at the age of 86.[10]

Discography

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Solo

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With Artie Traum

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With various groups

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Recordings as a back-up musician

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Traum can also be heard on albums with John Sebastian, Chris Smither, Jerry Jeff Walker, Tom Pacheco, Priscilla Herdman, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Peter Schickele ("P. D. Q. Bach"), Eric Andersen, Rory Block, Maria Muldaur, Peter Tosh, Rick Danko, Levon Helm and many others.[citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Ruhlmann, William. "Biography: Happy Traum". AllMusic. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  2. ^ Hunt, Ken (July 24, 2008). "Artie Traum". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
  3. ^ "Happy Traum, Folk Scene Mainstay and Dylan Collaborator, Dies at 86". The New York Times. July 19, 2024. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  4. ^ Martaccio, Angie; Browne, David (July 18, 2024). "Happy Traum, Greenwich Village Folksinger and Bob Dylan Collaborator, Dead at 86". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 24, 2024.
  5. ^ "Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.
  6. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1". AMG. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  7. ^ Ochs, Ed (March 13, 1971). "Talent in Action". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 28. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. ^ "Happy & Artie Traum: Happy & Artie Traum". Theband.hiof.no.
  9. ^ "Happy Traum Biography". happytraum.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
  10. ^ "Happy Traum 1938–2024". Chronogram.
  11. ^ a b "LP's issued by Kicking Mule Recordings". Wirz.de.
  12. ^ "I Walk The Road Again". Amazon. Retrieved May 13, 2010.
General sources
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