Last night came some devastating news. One of the true giants of Hudson Valley music, Happy Traum, has passed away. He was 86.
Anyone who interacted with him on even the most casual level will tell you the same thing: Happy was one of the warmest, sweetest, and most thoughtful human beings one could ever hope to encounter, and easily one of the most beloved souls in his longtime home of Woodstock. But, of course, besides that, he was known around the world as a figure of vital importance within the evolution of American folk music; a key presence on the same, crucial early 1960s Greenwich Village scene that included his friends and picking partners Phil Ochs, Peter LaFarge, and Bob Dylan.
In 1963, as a member of the New World Singers, the Bronx-born musician recorded the first commercially released version of Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”; that same year he cut a song in a duo with Dylan, the first of several times he would record with him. Happy had been inspired to learn the banjo by seeing a performance by Pete Seeger, an eventual mentor and friend; after picking up the guitar he went on to study with blues master Brownie McGhee. In 1968, he formed a duo with his brother Artie Traum (1943-2008) that became one of the most popular acts on the folk circuit of the ensuing decades. The two also performed in the all-star Woodstock Mountains Revue.
In 1965 he wrote the book Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar, which led to the launch of Homespun Music, a music instructional label and publisher that produced and distributed audio and video lessons for all manner of instruments for many styles, skill levels, and techniques. Across its more than 50 years in business, untold numbers of musicians around the world learned to play from the lessons that the imprint offered, and the case can be strongly made that there are musical traditions whose continued existence is owed to Happy’s efforts with Homespun. I wrote about the company on the occasion of its 40th anniversary for Chronogram and had a wonderful time getting to further know Happy and his wife Jane.
I asked Happy if he’d be willing to write the forward for my 2016 book The Band FAQ and he agreed without hesitation, turning in a beautiful remembrance of his friends. When the book came out, the Golden Notebook sponsored a release event for it at the Byrdcliffe Center for the Arts, with a panel moderated by me and live music by Mike and Ruthy and friends. I invited Happy to be on the panel, and, once again, he generously accepted. But I didn’t mention anything about the possibility of him playing. I was afraid it might be a bit presumptuous on my part to ask. After all, he was a folk icon. Even though he lived right up the road, the function was free to the public, and although the other players had so kindly agreed to do it as a pass-the-hat gig I couldn’t bring myself to ask him to do the same.
But the evening of the event Happy arrived on time and, sure enough, he had his guitar case with him. “Would it be okay if I played a couple of tunes?” he asked. I was floored. Of course I told him, yes, thanks, that would be amazing. He huddled with the other musicians right before they went on and worked out a couple of songs right then and there, one of which was a moving version the Band classic “Going Down to See Bessie,” which Happy had frequently performed with his late brother. When the music was done, the audience erupted, and the hat was passed. And then it made its way back to the stage, overflowing. That was truly a magical Woodstock night. One of so many that Happy gave us.
We at Chronogram send our deepest condolences to Happy’s family and his many, many friends and fans.
