On July 17, people music misplaced one in every of its guiding lights with the loss of life of Completely happy Traum at age 86. A significant participant within the Greenwich Village and Woodstock scenes, he was greatest recognized for his catalog of Homespun educational movies, boasting an eclectic roster of artists on a wide range of devices.

“He was one of some left of that breed of artists from the ’60s that had been the true epitome of folks music,” says one such teacher, steel-guitarist Cindy Cashdollar. “They introduced forth the invention and revival of artists like Mississippi John Damage, and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee.”

Sizzling Tuna’s Jorma Kaukonen echoes the sentiment: “Completely happy was a serious contender within the burgeoning people scene of the early ’60s and onward. He was a heavyweight artist, at all times, however he by no means flaunted it. He performed and sang with flawless experience and love. Every time he made music, the sunshine at all times shone by. Having studied with the good Brownie McGhee, nobody might channel him like Completely happy, however he had a really distinct fashion of his personal.”

Traum was born in The Bronx, New York, Might 9, 1938 – his nickname derived from his first and center names, Harry and Peter. After showing on 1963’s Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1, together with Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger, Traum’s group, the New World Singers, recorded the primary variations of “Blowin’ In The Wind” that 12 months and “Don’t Suppose Twice, It’s All Proper” a 12 months later. In ’71, he backed Dylan on acoustic guitar, banjo, and bass, and sang concord on “I Shall Be Launched” and three different songs that ended up on Bob Dylan’s Best Hits, Vol. 2 and the field set The Bootleg Sequence Vol. 10: One other Self Portrait (1969–1971).

Youthful brother Artie was a guitarist, composer, and producer in his personal proper. The 2 moved to Woodstock in 1967 and carried out collectively till Artie’s loss of life in 2008.

In ’72, they recorded and produced Mud Acres, Music Amongst Mates, and three subsequent albums below the collective moniker The Woodstock Mountains Revue. Its core additionally included Invoice Keith, Jim Rooney, John Herald, Roly Salley, Larry Campbell, and Pat Alger.

Completely happy’s first of a dozen educational books, Fingerpicking Types For Guitar, was revealed in ’65. Along with changing into editor of Sing Out! The Folksong Journal, he wrote the “Strictly Folks” column for Guitar Participant.

With spouse, Jane, he launched Homespun Tapes in ’67, which ultimately transitioned from audio cassettes to video. Amongst its 500 entries are classes by bluesman John Hammond, Band drummer Levon Helm, banjoist Béla Fleck, and even mandolin icon Invoice Monroe.

“It appears as if we had been pals for an eternity; he and Jane had been that sort of folks,” Kaukonen provides. “I had spent a lot of years dismantling my life and was looking for my means out of the forest. Completely happy prolonged his hand to me within the late ’80s and gave me a second likelihood by inviting me to make an educational video. The work that he and Jane did within the creation of the groundbreaking Homespun instructionals won’t ever be equaled. I’ll at all times be grateful to them for that chance. It modified my life.”

His first of six solo albums, 1975’s Loosen up Your Thoughts, was produced by Stefan Grossman and featured songwriter Pat Alger on mandolin. For his final album, 2022’s There’s A Vibrant Facet Someplace, contributors included Campbell, Cashdollar, John Sebastian, and son Adam Traum.

“Completely happy was one in every of a handful of people that gave me an opportunity to show myself with no strings connected,” says Alger. “We met in January, 1970, on the Vermont Folks Competition, and he invited me to cease by Woodstock on my means again to Atlanta. Not lengthy after, my spouse and I moved there, and she or he started working for Homespun Tapes. Completely happy was uniquely certified to be a historian of the complete people motion and the guitar types they performed, however he was additionally keen to assist a 22-year-old child like me to get began. I performed mandolin on his first three solo albums when he might have employed any variety of legends, and he additionally recorded one in every of my early songs, ‘Daddy’s Violin,’ on Vibrant Morning Stars. Within the Woodstock Mountains Revue, he at all times stopped the present no less than as soon as in each set we did. He was a vital mentor, particularly as a result of he additionally handled me as his peer. The boldness he gave me then sustains me to this present day.”

“When you didn’t know him, you felt such as you did upon assembly him,” Cashdollar provides. “When you knew him, you’d by no means fathom the day when he wouldn’t be a telephone name away. He was an enormous expertise and an educator and innovator who by no means misplaced the spark to like, create, and share music.”

“Completely happy had an overriding high quality of humanity that’s not straightforward to outline,” says Kaukonen. “Suffice it to say that he was a real mensch. His like just isn’t quickly to be seen once more.”

This text initially appeared in VG’s November 2024 situation. All copyrights are by the writer and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.