Artie Traum has been described as "one of the great players of any
era" and Jazz Times called his style "elegant folk-jazz." He is an
NAV award-winning guitarist, producer & songwriter. Artie has been
featured on over 35 albums for major and indie labels. He has
produced or recorded with The Band, Warren Bernhardt, Pat Alger, Tony
Levin, John Sebastian, Richie Havens, James Taylor, Pete Seeger,
David Grisman, Livingston Taylor, Michael Franks, Happy Traum and
dozens more. His songs have been featured on PBS, BBC, ESPN, CBS. He
has toured in Japan, Europe and across the USA.
A pioneer of the East Coast acoustic scene, Artie Traum is a
musician “whose work defines the vitality and sophistication of
American acoustic music.” (Acoustic Guitar).
A native of the Bronx, Artie Traum gravitated to the
Greenwich Village music scene in the late 1960’s. It was there he
became influenced by James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Muddy Waters and
Pete Seeger. As a first project, Traum co-wrote songs for the Brian
de Palma debut film Greetings – the first role for Robert DeNiro –
with Eric Kaz and Bear.
In 1970, Artie joined forces with his brother Happy Traum. The
duo recorded their album in Nashville which the New York Times called
“one of the best records in any field of pop music.” The Traums were
managed by Albert Grossman (The Band, Dylan, Janis Joplin) and toured
around the world. They performed at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival on
stage with James Taylor, Kris Kristoferson and Joni Mitchell.
During the 70’s and 80’s, Artie produced The Woodstock
Mountains Revue featuring Happy and Artie Traum, Pat Alger, John
Sebastian, Maria Muldaur, Rory Block, Eric Andersen, Paul Butterfield
and Paul Siebel. In the mid 1980’s Artie joined forces with
songwriter Pat Alger (Thunder Rolls, Unanswered Prayers) and the duo
recorded From The Heart.
Artie’s 1994 released the jazz project Letters From Joubee which
captured #1 on the Smooth Jazz Radio Charts (Gavin AA chart). In
1999 his Meetings With Remarkable Friends was awarded Best Acoustic
Instrumental Album of 1999 by the NAV Awards and has been described
as a “classic.”
In 2003 Artie released a singer/songwriter project South of
Lafayette which was featured on All Things Considered. A collection
of fishing songs Big Trout Radio, recorded with Chris Shaw and Tom
Akstens, was released in 2004.
Artie has has written dozens of instructional books and DVD’s
about music and guitar styles, published by Homespun Tapes.