Renowned songwriter and guitarist Artie Traum, who, along with his older brother, Happy, was a major figure and a pioneer in the 1970s acoustic music scene, has died.  Cancer that spread to his liver claimed his life at the age of 65, although his family reports that Traum was not in appreciable pain, and he had performed publicly until May. 

Traum grew up in the Bronx, New York and was inspired by the Greenwich Village folk scene in the late 1950s – particularly such artists as Pete Seeger, The Weavers and The Tarriers.  He was drawn into folk music by his brother, Happy, four years his senior, who survives him.  As a harmony duo, they frequently performed at coffeehouses in the Village and during Sunday afternoon gigs at Washington Square Park organized by the Folksingers’ Guild.  The pair, who was managed by Bob Dylan’s and Peter, Paul & Mary’s late manager, Albert Grossman, also recorded several critically acclaimed albums for Capital and Rounder during the 1970s.  These were among the more than 20 in which Artie Traum was featured and dozens that he recorded during his career.  Traum’s songs and instrumentals also have been covered by others such as The Band (with whose members he also collaborated), David Grisman and Tony Rice.

Although Traum initially was interested in the banjo, he soon gravitated to the guitar and became well-known and respected for his folk and jazz stylings.  He moved to the Woodstock, New York area in 1967, where, in addition to continuing to play and record his own music, he composed film scores, made a documentary film, launched a production company, and produced recordings for other artists, including the Woodstock Mountains Revue, which included such notables as Pat Alger, John Sebastian and John Herald, along with himself and special guests like Eric Andersen, Rory Block, Paul Butterfield and Maria Muldaur.  “He was a real instigator of bringing people together from various styles and melding them into a conglomerate that became something totally different,” Happy Traum told Jon Pareles, a music critic and writer for The New York Times. 

During the 1990s, Traum began recording jazz albums.  Over the years, he also wrote instructional books and recorded videos and DVDs about music and guitar styles for his brother’s company, Homespun Tapes. For a brief time in the late 1980s, the two also co-hosted a nationally-syndicated live radio revue called “Bring It on Home,” based out of WAMC in Albany, New York.

Besides his brother, Traum is survived by his wife, Beverly.  A remembrance page ha been established at www.artietraum.com/at_remembrances.html.