Happy Traum was the most-played artist on folk radio during August 2022, while his recent release, There’s a Bright Side Somewhere, was the top album and its title track was the month’s most-played song. So say charts compiled by Folk Alliance International based on radio playlists submitted to FOLKDJ-L, an electronic discussion group for DJs and others interested in folk-based music on the radio.

Happy Traum album cover 2022There’s a Bright Side Somewhere is the first new album in seven years for Traum, whose decades-long involvement in traditional and contemporary folk music has brought him recognition as a performer, writer, editor, teacher, recording artist, and a top-notch fingerstyle guitarist. The album features a mix of 13 traditional and traditional-style American roots music songs.

[Here’s a link to view a video of Happy Traum performing “There’s a Bright Side Somewhere.” A traditional song, it was reportedly first recorded by Reverend Gary Davis in 1961.]

An active participant in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the late 1950s-1960s, Happy — and his late brother Artie — played coffeehouses on the weekends, while he led Sunday Afternoon Sings at Washington Square Park for a couple of years. A student of blues guitar legend Brownie McGhee, whom he cites as a major influence on his picking style, Traum made his recording debut in 1963 with Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, the Freedom Singers and others on Folkways Records, and later recorded four duets with Dylan on his Greatest Hits, Volume 2. Happy Traum has played concerts, clubs and festivals throughout the world; released many CDs; and has appeared and/or recorded with such folk luminaries as Eric Andersen, Rory Block, Larry Campbell, Dylan, Levon Helm, Maria Muldaur, John Sebastian, and Chris Smither. Sebastian and Campbell also accompany him on his latest recording — along with Darol Anger, Cindy Cashdollar, Amy Helm, Bruce Molsky, Geoff Muldaur, Eugene Ruffolo, Tony Trischka, and Jay Ungar, among others.

One of America’s best-known guitar instructors, Traum also is the author of more than a dozen guitar instruction books and has written for a number of leading music publications. He even had a stint as editor of Sing Out! Magazine. As the co-owner of Homespun Tapes, he has produced more than 600 music lessons on DVDs, books and CDs with some of the world’s top artists.

In a September 12 post to the Folk DJ Listserv, Traum expressed thanks to the DJs “for listening, and for playing this recording that I put my heart and soul into for the past couple of years.” Wrote Traum: “The fact that you care about this music, and do such great work in getting it out to your listeners is an affirmation of my life’s work, as well as that of so many other wonderful artists.” He continued … “to be recognized in this way by each of you feels like a culmination of decades-of immersion into the folk/blues/traditional music genres. Thinking of my first album with the New World Singers in 1963 (with Bob Dylan’s liner notes); recordings with my late brother, Artie Traum; the ones we produced for the Mud Acres/Woodstock Mountains Revue in the 1970s; and the solo CDs I have put out since then, I have always sought to up my game and to convey the honesty and joy of acoustic music, and the guitar, in its many forms. By playing songs from There’s a Bright Side Somewhere, you have conveyed a huge honor on me, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”

The August 2022 Top Albums, Songs and Artists charts are based on 14, 536 airplays reported on 492 playlists submitted by 126 different folk DJs. The number of reported spins is shown below in parentheses.

Folk Alliance International (folk.org) is a nonprofit organization that aims to serve, strengthen, and engage the global folk music community through preservation, presentation and promotion.

Top Albums of August 2022

1. There’s a Bright Side Somewhere by Happy Traum (143)
2. Love Is the Only Thing by Peter Mulvey and Sistastrings (124)
3. The Coming of the Years by Joe Jencks (121)
4. Apple and Setser by Apple and Setser (100)
5. All Those Days of Drinking Dust by Tiffany Williams (93)
6. Last Days of Summer by Lucy Kaplansky (87)
7. Tell ‘Em You Were Gold by Pharis and Jason Romero (84)
7. Of Hard Times and Harmony by Windborne (84)
9. The Ties That Bind Us by Adler and Hearne (81)
10. Horizon Line by Dan Navarro (67)
11. Lifetime Achievement by Loudon Wainwright III (53)
12. One More Time Before You Go by Dan Tyminski (51)
13. Cover to Cover by The Brother Brothers (50)
13. So Much Time, So Much Love by Shelton and Williams (50)
15. Still by David LaMotte (49)
145. Cottonwood by Megan Bee (49)
17. I Am: Songs by Lynn Swisher Spears by Various Artists (46)
18. What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? by Kathy Kallick & Friends/Dodi Kallick (44)
19. Peculiar, Missouri by Willi Carlisle (43)
20. All New by Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink, and Marcy Marxer (40)
21. Endless Grace by Deidre McCalla (39)
22. Dark Enough to See the Stars by Mary Gauthier (37)
23. Done Come Too Far by Shemekia Copeland (35)
24. Second-Hand by James Keelaghan (32)
24. Americana Railroad by Various Artists (32)
26. From Where I Stand by Wyatt Easterling (31)
26. Ghosts and Memories by Mike P. Ryan (31)
28. Crooked Tree by Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (29)
29. Out Here Now by Ever More Nest (28)
29. Out of the Woods by Durham County Poets (28)
29. Dobrosinger by Abbie Gardner (28)
32. Lilygild by Hilary Hawke (27)
32. Bloodline Maintenance by Ben Harper (27)
34. 12th of June by Lyle Lovett (26)
34. Long Time to Be Gone by Nora Brown (26)
34. Prettiest Blue by The Early Mays (26)
37. Wind Rose by Jocelyn Pettit (25)
38. The New Faith by Jake Blount (24)
38. One More Ride by Jon Burrowes (24)
40. A Tickle in My Soul by Jack Williams (23)
40. So It Goes by Roland Roberts (23)
42. Broken Love Songs by Aimee Van Dyne (22)
42. Narrow Line by Mama’s Broke (22)
42. Bloom and Grow by Kyla Tilley (22)
45. No Regular Dog by Kelsey Waldon (21)
46. Goodbye, Cloudy Sky by Marc Von Em (20)
46. Backroads by Johnsmith (20)
48. Another End of a Year by Connor Garvey (18)
48. The Mountain, the Valley, the River, the Pine by Patrice Webb (18)
48. True North by Eli Lev (18)
48. Moving Through America by Steve Forbert (18)
48. Gravity, Wings, and Heavy Things by Chuck Brodsky (18)
48. Wonderland by Martha Spencer (18)

Top Songs of August 2022

1. “Theres a Bright Side Somewhere” by Happy Traum (39)
2. “500 Miles” by Alice Howe (31)
3. “Last Days of Summer” by Lucy Kaplansky (29)
4. “Know Your Worth” by Tiffany Williams (27)
5. “It’s Summer and We’re Burning” by Adler and Hearne (26)
6. “Shenandoah” by Peter Mulvey and Sistastrings (25)
7. “Grandma Danced With the Arkansas Traveler” by Apple and Setser (23)
7. “Lady of the Harbor” by Windborne (23)
9. “Early Summer of ’21” by Peter Mulvey and Sistastrings (20)
10. “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane” by Apple and Setser (18)
10. “On Eireann’s Shore” by Joe Jencks (18)
10. “Souvenir” by Pharis and Jason Romero (18)
13. “All Those Days of Drinking Dust” by Tiffany Williams (17)
14. “Lancelot” by Jonathan Byrd (16)
14. “New York Town” by Happy Traum (16)
14. “A Friend You’d Never Met” by Apple and Setser (16)
17. “Caledonia” by Joe Jencks (15)
17. “Used to Be” by Megan Bee (15)
17. “The Coming of the Years” by Joe Jencks (15)
17. “Once There Was No Sun” by Jake Blount (15)
21. “When Two Worlds Collide” by Bruce T Carroll (14)
21. “When the Moon Rises Over Skibbereen” by Joe Jencks (14)
21. “Horizon Line” by Dan Navarro (14)
21. “Farewell” by Happy Traum (14)
25. “Elusive Butterfly” by Shelton and Williams (13)
25. “Sweet Texas Songs” by Adler and Hearne (13)
25. “Between Heaven and the Ground” by Mike P. Ryan (13)
25. “Animal” by Jean Rohe (13)
25. “Pray for Rain” by Peter Mulvey and Sistastrings (13)

Top Artists of August 2022

1. Happy Traum (145)
2. Joe Jencks (125)
3. Peter Mulvey and Sistastrings (124)
4. Apple and Setser (100)
5. Tiffany Williams (95)
6. Lucy Kaplansky (92)
7. Windborne (89)
7. Pharis and Jason Romero (89)
9. Adler and Hearne (81)
10. John McCutcheon (74)
11. Dan Navarro (67)
12. Loudon Wainwright III (60)
13. The Brother Brothers (53)
14. Dan Tyminski (52)
15. Joni Mitchell (50)
15. Shelton and Williams (50)
17. Megan Bee (49)
17. David LaMotte (49)
19. Bob Dylan (46)
20. Mary Gauthier (44)
21. Willi Carlisle (43)
22. Deidre McCalla (41)
23. Tom Paxton, Cathy Fink, and Marcy Marxer (40)
24. James Keelaghan (38)
24. Nanci Griffith (38)
26. Mick Moloney (37)
27. Shemekia Copeland (36)
28. Alice Howe (34)
29. Kathy Kallick (33)
30. Ever More Nest (32)
30. Wyatt Easterling (32)
32. Lyle Lovett (31)
32. Mike P. Ryan (31)
34. John Prine (30)
35. Abbie Gardner (29)
35. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (29)
35. Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway (29)
38. Nora Brown (28)
38. Ben Harper (28)
38. Durham County Poets (28)