Remembering Happy Traum (1938–2024)
Back in 2022, I got a package in the mail with a new CD of 13 songs sung and played by Happy Traum and 18 of his friends and neighbors in the Hudson Valley region of New York, some of whom, like John Sebastian, he’d been making music with for 60+ years.
“Damn,” I remember thinking, “he’s 84 years old and he sounds better than ever!” Not just the familiar, rhythmic fingerstyle guitar that he learned from Brownie McGhee and fused with the effervescence of John Hurt. Not just the tuneful, rousing interplay of voices and timbres from a pantheon of roots music virtuosos. But Happy’s singing voice—strong, inviting, reflective, and above all, narrative, drawing me into the story of each song.
The last time I spoke to Happy was shortly after that CD was released two years ago. But by the merest chance, I had been listening to it while cooking dinner the day he passed away last week. When I got the news, I was looking down at the CD sleeve and reading Happy’s brief but characteristically modest inscription: “I hope you enjoy these songs.”
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Happy Traum was a Renaissance man in both senses of the term, a person of wide and deep interests and pursuits and a man capable of invention and reinvention throughout the long life that just ended after 86 eventful years. He accomplished what many people yearn for—a balanced life, in which art, commerce, family, and friends peacefully and fruitfully bonded and blended.
Performer, artist, author, editor, producer, and entrepreneur, Happy was above all a teacher. Homespun Instruction, the business he and his wife, Jane, launched to make practice tapes for his students when Happy was away touring, soon became a complex and demanding enterprise in its own right.
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It would be no exaggeration to see a parallel between the Lomax family’s accomplishments in recording and preserving the legacy of American roots music and the Traums’ brilliance in sharing the craft and techniques of the generations of leading American roots musicians who drew deeply from the Lomax well. It’s easy to forget the relatively modest access we had to such information before the advent of the worldwide web and in the process forget how groundbreaking the Traums’ work had been.
That 2022 CD, by the way, is called There’s a Bright Side Somewhere. If you haven’t heard it yet, now would be a good time. Thanks, Happy, for the songs.
We have made the November/December 2021 issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine available for free download. It includes a feature story on Happy, plus a transcription of his take on “Worried Blues.”
one of my first guitar books was Bluegrass Guitar by Happy Traum I got my first copy in the Late 70’s and had completely wore it out. and had to buy another copy.Guess you could say he taught me how to play.
Tom Daun
Very sorry to here this. I first came across Happy Traum nearly 50 years ago when he had a column in Guitar Player magazine.
RIP Happy Traum
As a wide-eyed 13-year old aspiring guitarist in the 60’s I came across an instructional book by Happy and it gave me the foundation for using pentatonics and chordal patterns to unlock the secrets of the fretboard. I believe (if my fading memory serves) he referred to pentatonics as “the box system.”
I am eternally grateful and am more than saddened to hear of his passing.
A great loss to the guitar community- I hope to see a nice feature on Happy in an upcoming edition. would love to see tabs for Happy Traums version of Bob Dylans Tonight I’ll be staying here with you
Sorry to hear about Happy’s passing. My wife and I saw him at the Earl of Leicester Hotel in Adelaide South Australia in 1983 (or there abouts). He put on a great show, and we still have is album from that time – A great performer and musician!
Happy deepened my love of music and the acoustic guitar in a class at Jorma’s Fur Peace Ranch. Not only did he make all of us students feel like guitar virtuosos, he captivated us with tales of Dylan, Brownie McGhee and Pete Seeger.
The music world has lost not only a great instructor, but a first class person.
“Happy Traum is my oldest friend- since the 1st grade.” My father, Mark Dronge, would say fondly anytime Happy’s name came up. Both dad and Happy have a long history in the music industry. They both left beautiful legacies in the MI and with their families. I am deeply saddened, yet grateful to have known Happy and share a little piece of history with him. May his memory be a blessing.
I still have my copy of Guitar Finger-Picking Styles and Flat-Pick Country Guitar. What a wonderful, full life Happy had, blessing all of us with his music, his teachings and wonderful spirit.
Quite upset to hear this sad news. I have happy recollections of meeting , sharing dinner & spending a day showing Happy & Jane a little bit of the Aussie bush & beaches around Perth Western Australia when Happy was a Special Guest at the Australian National Folk Festival in 1985. A warmer, more gracious and accessible musician & teacher would be harder to find. I do regret not being able to show Happy & Jane a koala on the slightly rainy day but we sure did enjoy the Sunday Yum Chai luncheon we shared in a Northbridge packed with local Chinese folk. A joyful experience. I regret also never having been able to “come visit in Woodstock”. Happy’s last words to me on parting.
VALE: A True Gentleman.
Condolences to all his family & many friends. 💔🎼🌹
Thank you for this lovely tribute to Happy. He and my father, Mark Dronge, had been friends for 78 years until my dad passed…they were both proud of their long-term friendship which began in Kindergarten in the Bronx. Often, they would chat and “kvell” over their roots, their friendship, their shared vision of bringing joy through music to the world, their quest to inspire musicians, and above all – their love for their families. Jane, we hope you can draw a little peace from the music community and continue to hear how much Happy was beloved and appreciated. Happy will be missed dearly. And we will continue to celebrate his music on the daily. He touched many of us and his legacy lives on. With love, Annika (DR Strings)
He was a joy to watch and listen to. Not many people I can say that about. Sorry he’s gone. Happy he lived.
I owe a great debt to Happy Traum: I learnt to flat pick via his Flat-Pick Country Guitar book which was published in 1973. Living in the UK, this book also opened my mind and ears, to new musical styles. Condolences to his family and friends.
Happy opened the world of finger picking to me. With that, I was able to pass on some techniques to my daughter, who is a songwriter. I loved his teaching persona.
I also learned good stuff from his brother Artie. I’m grateful for that too. I imagine they’re playing duets together in heaven now.
Thanks, Hap.
Happy was a wonderful teacher, folklorist and musician. I still have copies of his Blues Bag and Fingerpicking Styles for Guitar. I was fortunate to spend a week hanging around with him and Jane (and Steve James) at the Port Townsend Acoustic Blues in Washington State about five years ago. A tue gentleman, and so modest. It was a delight to hear him talk about Brownie McGee, Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan, although you had to drag the stories out of him.
RIP Happy. You have enriched so many lives.
I met you through You tube relatively late and respect you immediately.
Thank you and rest in peace.