Happy Traum (born Harry Peter Traum, May 9, 1938,

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, New York) is an

American folk music The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as ''traditional music'', ''traditional folk music'', ''contemporary folk music'', ''vernacular music,'' or ''roots music''. Many traditional songs have been sung ...

ian who started playing music in the 1950s and became a stalwart of the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

music scene of the 1960s and the

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock. Billed as "an Aq ...

music scene of the 1970s and 1980s. For several years, he studied blues guitar with

Brownie McGhee Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk music and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Life and career McGhee was ...

, who was a big influence on his guitar style. Happy is most famously known as one half of Happy and

Artie Traum Arthur Roy Traum (April 3, 1943 – July 20, 2008) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and producer. Traum's work appeared on more than 35 albums. He produced and recorded with The Band, Arlen Roth, Warren Bernhardt, Pat Alger, Tony Levin, ...

, a duo he began with his brother. They released several albums, including ''Happy and Artie Traum'' (1969, Capitol), ''Double Back'' (1971, Capitol), and ''Hard Times In The Country'' (1975, Rounder). He has continued as a solo artist and as founder of

Homespun Music Instruction Homespun offers music instruction for many instruments and styles on CD, DVD and streaming media. History Happy Traum's inspiration for Homespun came in 1967, when he was a musician and part-time guitar teacher in New York City. When he moved to W ...

Career

Collaborations with Bob Dylan

Traum first appeared on record at a historic session in late 1962 when a group of young folk musicians, including

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

Phil Ochs Philip David Ochs (; December 19, 1940 – April 9, 1976) was an American songwriter and protest singer (or, as he preferred, a topical singer). Ochs was known for his sharp wit, sardonic humor, political activism, often alliterative lyrics, and ...

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

Peter LaFarge Peter La Farge (born Oliver Albee La Farge, April 30, 1931 – October 27, 1965) was a New York City-based folksinger and songwriter of the 1950s and 1960s. He is known best for his affiliations with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Early life and ed ...

and The Freedom Singers, gathered in the studio at

Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987 and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways. History The Folkways Records & Service ...

to record an album called ''Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1''. With his group, The New World Singers, Traum cut the first version of "

Blowin' in the Wind "Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962. It was released as a single and included on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions abou ...

" to be released (early 1963). 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 "Let Me Die in My Footsteps" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan in February 1962. The song was selected for the original sequence of Dylan's 1963 album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'', but was replaced by "A Hard Rain's a-Gon ...

". These tracks were re-released in August 2000 by

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was fo ...

as part of a boxed set, ''The Best of Broadside 1962 - 1988: Anthems from the American Underground''. Later that year, The New World Singers, which featured Traum, Bob Cohen and

Gil Turner Gil Turner (born Gilbert Strunk; May 6, 1933 – September 23, 1974) was an American folk singer-songwriter, magazine editor, Shakespearean actor, political activist, and for a time, a lay Baptist preacher. Turner was a prominent figure in the ...

, 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 "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962, recorded on November 14 that year, and released on the 1963 album ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' and as the b-side of the ''Blowin' in the Wind'' single. The song was cov ...

" In 1971 Happy once again joined Dylan in the studio, playing

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, 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)''. Dylan also invited Happy to participate in a famous session with poet

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, which resulted in the box set ''Holy Soul Jelly Roll''.

Discography

Solo

* 1980 ''Bright Morning Stars'' With John Sebastian, Roly Salley, Richard Manuel and Larry Campbell * 1975, ''Relax Your Mind'',

Kicking Mule Records Kicking Mule Records was an American independent record label, founded in Berkeley, California in 1971 by guitarist Stefan Grossman and Eugene "ED" Denson, formerly co-owner of Takoma Records. The company's name comes from the country blues sexu ...

KM110 (LP) * 1977, ''American Stranger'',

KM301 (LP) * 1987, ''Buckets of Songs'', Shanachie (CD) * 2005, ''I Walk The Road Again'', Roaring Stream Records (CD) * 2015, "Just For the Love Of It," Lark's Nest Music (CD)

With Artie Traum

*1970 ''Happy and Artie Traum'' - Capitol Records (LP) *1971 ''Double Back'' - Capitol Records (LP) *1975 ''Hard Times in the Country'' - Rounder Records (reissued as CD in 2005) *1994 ''The Test of Time'' - Roaring Stream Records (CD) *2006 ''Happy and Artie Traum Live Recordings 1970s and 1980s'' - Slice of Life Records

With various groups

*1963 ''Broadside, Vol. 1'' (both solo and with The New World Singers) - Folkways Records (with Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, The Freedom Singers, and others). *1964 ''The New World Singers'' - Atlantic Records (liner notes by Bob Dylan) *1966 ''The Children of Paradise'' - Columbia Records (single) Happy and Artie Traum, Eric Kaz and Marc Silber. *1972 ''Mud Acres: Music Among Friends'' - Rounder Records (reissued on CD 2005) Happy and Artie produced and performed, along with Eric Kaz, Maria Muldaur, Jim Rooney, Bill Keith, John Herald, Lee Berg and Tony Brown. *1976 ''Woodstock Mountains: More Music from Mud Acres'' - Rounder (LP) with Happy and Artie, Pat Alger, Eric Andersen, Lee Berg, Rory Block, Paul Butterfield, John Herald, Bill Keith, Jim Rooney, Roly Salley, John Sebastian, Paul Siebel and others. *1978 ''Woodstock Mountains Revue: Pretty Lucky'' - Rounder (LP) *1981 ''Woodstock Mountains Revue: Back to Mud Acres'' - Rounder (LP) *1987 ''Woodstock Mountains: Music from Mud Acres'' - Rounder (CD) *1990 ''Bring It On Home, Vol. 1 and 2'' - Sony Legacy (CD) The "Best of..." Happy and Artie's WAMC Public Radio show. *2000 ''The Best of Broadside'' – Smithsonian/Folkways Boxed Set

Recordings as a back-up musician

*1971 Bob Dylan's ''Greatest Hits, Vol. 2'' - Columbia *1971 Allen Ginsberg ''Holy Soul Jelly Roll'' with Bob Dylan (producer), David Amram, Ed Sanders, et al. *2014 Bob Dylan ''Another Self Portrait'' Happy can also be heard on albums with, John Sebastian, Chris Smither, Jerry Jeff Walker, Tom Pacheco, Priscilla Herdman, Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert, Eric Andersen, Rory Block, Maria Muldaur, Peter Tosh, Rick Danko, Levon Helm and many others.

References

;General sources *

External links

Happy Traum
Official Website
Happy Traum , Listen and Stream Free Music, Albums, New Releases, Photos, Videos
Happy Traum on MySpace
Homespun TapesHomespun Instant Access downloadsThe Official Bob Dylan Site
Album Info from "Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Volume II" on Bob Dylan's website
Happy Traum Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Traum, Happy American folk musicians Fast Folk artists 1938 births People from the Bronx People from Greenwich Village Living people