Topic: Happy Traum RIP

[lindy]

Mark Thompson, a regular at the Centrum workshop, shared with me this message posted by Mary Flower on Facebook:

"So sorry to hear we have lost one of our heros of the folk&blues world, Happy Traum. One great player/teacher, Happy and Jane ran Homespun Tapes for many years. He was always so kind to me and brought me into the Homespun family. I am so very sad today. My love to his family."

A generous teacher.

Lindy

[Steve W]

Rest in peace, Happy.

Back in the mid-1970s, one of his books was where I started to learn finger picking - Blind Boy Fuller's 'Step it up and go'.

He made some good recordings - I recall Blind Lemon's 'Bad Luck Blues' from long ago too.

[David Kaatz]

RIP Happy. I too started finger picking from a Happy Traum instruction book.

Dave

[Vermonter]

Happy's death is an enormous loss to all guitar fingerpickers and other humans. I met Happy in the summer of 1961 when he was a counselor at my summer camp, Lincoln Farm. He was the first person who really taught me alternating thumb picking, and I soon traded in my classical guitar. He was a kind and loving human being; one of the great ones. This has really hit hard. He's done so much for folk music.

[Stuart]

Thank you for passing along the sad news, Lindy.

If you measure a life by contributions--well, need I say more. His early efforts opened numerous doors and pointed the way for many, myself included. And his endeavors only expanded as time went on.

Rest In Peace, Happy Traum. You will be missed. And you will always be greatly appreciated for all that you did.

[lindy]

He was 84 or 85 when he recorded this performance vid: