Happy & Artie Traum

Hard Times in the Country


Released 1975, Rounder Records 3007, LP

Maybe I am wrong, but I have the feeling that there is not much interest in this type of music.
But since I already ripped and restored the LP for myself, I will post it nevertheless.



Acoustic guitarists Happy and Artie Traum were at the center of the thriving music scene in Woodstock, New York in the mid-1970s, and 'Hard Times in the Country' is one of the finest albums of contemporary folk music to have come out of that community. With Paul Butterfield, Arlen Roth, Roly Salley, Billy Mundi and others, the brothers play a set of new and traditional songs, with exquisite guitar playing throughout.


Track Listing:

Side One

A1 Penny's Farm (trad.)
A2 No Depression Blues (Artie Traum)
A3 Gambler's Song (Artie Traum)
A4 Blow Your Whistle, Freight Train (Delmore Brothers)
A5 Masanga (Jean Bosco Mwenda)
A6 Mississippi John (Artie Traum)


Side Two

B1 Freight Train Blues (trad.)
B2 Earl's Crab Shack (Phil Marsh and Brian Voorhees)
B3 Sam's Song (Happy Traum)
B4 Gold Hill (Gold Hill)
B5 I Bid You Goodnight(Pindar Family and Joseph Spence, Bahamas)



Performer:
Happy Traum: vocals, acoustic guitar, banjo
Artie Traum: vocals, acoustic guitar
Arlen Roth: slide guitar, electric guitar, dobro, mandolin
Roly Salley: bass, back-up vocals
Billy Mundi: drums
Clark Pierson: drums
Larry Packer: fiddle
Howard Vogel: alto recorder
Jodi Vogel: soprano recorder
Paul Butterfield: harp
Andy Robinson, Laraine Grady Traum, Jim Rooney, Patrick Alger: back-up vocals


Quality:
MP3, 320 kBit/s
Vinyl LP rip and high quality audio restoration by houtch60
Full covers and liner notes included.
Size:
MP3 & Scans: 84.06 MB




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American Stranger


Released 1977, Kicking Mule Records, SNKF 142, LP



Track Listing:

Side A

A1 The American Stranger (Trad.)
A2 The Eighth Day of January (Trad.)
A3 Buckets of Rain (Bob Dylan)
A4 When I Was A Cowboy (Huddie Ledbetter)
A5 I Am A Pilgrim (Merle Travis)
A6 Doney Gal (Trad.)


Side B

B1 Golden Bird (Happy Traum)
B2 Sheebeg and Sheemore (Trad.)
B3 Dark Road Blues (Trad.)
B4 Delia's Gone (Trad.)
B5 I'll Fly Away (Trad.)


Performers:
Happy Traum: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Patric Alger: Mandolin
John Sebastian: Harmonica, Vocal
Roly Sally: Bass
Eric Weissberg: Fiddle
Andy Robinson: Percussion, Vocals
Doug James Percussion
Betty MacDonald: Fiddle, Vocals
Jodi Vogel: Cello
Howard Vogel: Recorder


Produced by Happy Traum with Andy Robinson
Recorded at Woodstock Sound Studio
Quality:
MP3, 320 kBit/s
Vinyl LP rip and high quality audio restoration by houtch60
Full covers scans and Guitar tablature booklet included.
Size:
MP3 & Scans: 121.33 MB




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Bright Morning Stars


Released 1980, Greeenhays Recordings, GR703 (US), LP / Waterfront Music, WF005 (UK), LP


A few of these songs are recent acquaintances, but most are old, faithful friends that have stuck by me through the years. Several evoke in me the image of a guitar-picking hero: John Hurt in the back room of the old Gaslight Cafe, sipping bourbon and smiling under his sweat-stained fedora as he fingerpicked "Monday Morning Blues;" Gary Davis, cigar stub clenched tight, picking unbelievable runs and singing "Twelve Gates to the City" on Sixth Avenue while passersby obliviously toss coins into his tin cup. "Bad Luck Blues," sung by Lemon Jefferson on a scratchy reissue of an old 78, brought the sounds of East Texas c. 1929 into a Bronx apartment c.1959, and Leadbelly, with his booming 12-string and powerful tenor, sang about that same Blind Lemon in his "Silver City Bound." Then there was Frank Proffitt of Reese, North Carolina, picking his home-made fretless banjo with work-scarred hands and singing "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" in his rumbling bass voice.... "One Row at a Time" by Red Lane and Dottie West could have been sung by the dust bowl migrants of the depression, while Ray Sisk's "Bounty Hunter" ranks with "Buffalo Skinners," "Texas Rangers" and other classic cowboy ballads in its bone-chilling tale... I first heard "I Shall Be Released" sung by The Band around a piano in a Woodstock living room, and I'll never forget my stunned reaction. Some years later, I played and sang harmony on Bob Dylan's own version of his song ("Greatest Hits, Vol. 2") and now it's come full circle with Richard Manuel backing me on the song he helped make famous. Finally, there's "Bright Morning Stars," an old shape-note spiritual that's traditionally sung unaccompanied, which accounts for its odd meter. I've added a guitar arrangement and some new words to bring it a little more into line with my view of the world.



Track Listing:

Side A

A1 Monday Morning Blues (John Hurt)
A2 The Bounty Hunter (Ray Sisk)
A3 Twelve Gates To The City (Trad.)
A4 One Row At A Time (Red Lane & Dottie West)
A5 Silver City Bound (Huddie Ledbetter)
A6 Hills Of Isle Au Haut (Gordon Bok)


Side B

B1 I Shall Be Released (Bob Dylan)
B2 Bad Luck Blues (Blind Lemon Jefferson)
B3 Daddy's Violin (Pat Alger)
B4 My Home's Across The Smoky Mountains (Trad.)
B5 Passenger Pigeon (John Herald)
B6 Bright Morning Stars (Trad.)



Performers:
Happy Traum: Vocals, Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Banjo
Pat Alger: Mandolin
John Sebastian: Electric Guitar, Harmonica
Artie Traum Back Vocals
Richard Manuel: Electric Piano, Clavinet
Maria Muldaur: Vocal
Roly Sally: Bass
Merle Watson: Slide Guitar
Andy Robinson: Drums, Back Vocals
Doug James: Drums
Larry Campbell: Pedal Steel
Arti Funaro: Bass
Amy Fradon: Back Vocals
Marilyn Mason: Back Vocals
Billy Mundi: Drums
Caroline Dutton: Violin
John Herald: Harmony Vocal
Jan De Smet: Accordion
George Ward: Concertina


Produced by Happy Traum & Andy Robinson
Recorded at Woodstock Recording Studio
Quality:
MP3, 320 kBit/s
Vinyl LP rip and high quality audio restoration by houtch60
Full covers scans and lyrics included.
Size:
MP3 & Scans: 116.74 MB




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Friends and Neighbors


Released 1983, Vest Pocket Recordings, VP-001, LP


The Happy Traum Band in the early '80s: Roly Salley (bass), Larry Campbell (fiddle and everything else with strings) and
I did a bunch of gigs together, most memorably a couple of great European tours and a "live" recording called "Friends & Neighbors".



Track Listing:

01. Rabbit's Luck (Artie Traum)
02. Gypsy Davey (Trad. Arr. by Happy Traum)
03. Young Hunting (Trad. Arr. by Happy Traum)
04. Morning Blues (Trad. Arr. by Happy Traum)
05. Rosie (Dave Evans)
06. Sixteen Tons (Merle Travis)
07. Link In The Chain (John Sebastian)
08. Sailor's Prayer (Rod MacDonald)
09. Sail Away Ladies (Trad. Arr. by Happy Traum)
10. Just The Motion (Richard Thompson)
11. Jackhammer Blues (Woody Guthrie
12. Friends and Neighbors (Trad. Arr. by Happy Traum)


Performer:
Happy Traum: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Banjo
Roly Salley: Bass, Acoustic Guitar, Back Vocal
Larry Campbell: Pedal Steel, Mandolin, Fiddle, Electrick Guitar
Cyndi Cashdollar: Dobro, Back Vocal
Paul Butterfield: Harmonica
Andy Robinson: Organ, Back Vocals


Produced by Happy Traum & Andy Robinson
Recorded live at Woodstock Recording Studio
Quality:
MP3, 320 kBit/s
Audio restoration by houtch60
from a vinyl rip (not by me) converted to MP3 192 kBit/s (see comment below)
Low resolution covers and recreated front covers included.
Size:
MP3 & Scans: 94.28 MB





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Relax Your Mind {1976}


Traditional fingerpicking guitar styles. Good covers of "John Henry" & "Worried Blues."

Artist : Happy Traum
Title : Relax Your Mind
Label : Kicking Mule Records
Record No. : SNKF 111
Release : 1976
Credit 1 : Produced by Stefan Grossman
Credit 2 : Recorded at New City Studio, NY.


Tracklist:

01. Relax Your Mind
02. Gypsy Davey
03. Worried Blues
04. John Henry
05. Peggy Gordon
06. When First Unto This Country
07. Poor Howard
08. Fair & Tender Ladies
09. Boat's Up the River
10. Willie Moore
11. Weave Room Blues





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