Happy Traum Dies: Folk Music Mainstay Of Greenwich Village Scene Who Recorded With Bob Dylan Was 86

Happy Traum, a mainstay of the Greenwich Village folk scene of the early 1960s who recorded with Bob Dylan, died on Wednesday in Manhattan. He was 86.

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His wife, Jane Traum, said he died of pancreatic cancer in a physical rehabilitation facility after undergoing surgery. He lived in Woodstock, N.Y.

Traum and his brother, Artie, were revered musicians in the folk world. The brothers performed at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island in 1969, toured the world, and released five albums. Artie Traum died of liver cancer in 2008.

Happy Traum recorded and performed with Dylan, Pete Seeger, Levon Helm of the Band and the reggae star Peter Tosh.

He was part of a 1963 session that featured Dylan, Seeger, Phil Ochs and other folk stars that created the seminal folk album “Broadside Ballads, Vol. 1.” Among the tracks on that album was Traum’s duet with Dylan, who used the pseudonym Blind Boy Grunt, on Dylan’s antiwar song “Let Me Die in My Footsteps.”

He later joined the folk group the New World Singers, who cut the first recording of the Dylan classic “Blowin’ in the Wind,” which had been given the band by the songwriter to perform in local venues.

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Dylan also gave Traum and the New World Singers another of his future classics, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right,” which they released as a single. It was the first recorded version of the song, included on their debut album, released by Atlantic Records in 1963.

Traum was also known for founding Homespun Music Instruction , which has produced instructional books and videos featuring tips from Donald Fagen of Steely Dan, Paul Butterfield and John Sebastian.

In addition to his wife, Traum is survived by daughters Merry and April Traum, his son, Adam, and four grandchildren.

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