Photo by Adam Traum, courtesy of the Artie Traum website

Since the days of the Greenwich Village '60s folk scene to the year 2000, Artie Traum's career has covered nearly every aspect of the music business. From his work as a performer, writer, studio musician, producer, video instructor and clinician, the list of artists with whom Artie Traum has worked with reads like a Who's Who of the music industry.

His new CD "Meetings with Remarkable Friends" is a musical testimonial of Artie's diverse guitar styles and his ability to stay current in a world that leaves others behind. Artie spent some time with us answering some musical questions to which only he knows the answer!

Q: Artie, thanks for joining us! Regarding your new CD, "Meetings with Remarkable Friends" (Narada 1999), you've certainly had your share of remarkable friends over the years. How did this CD come about?

ARTIE: Since my early days recording with The Woodstock Mountain Revue, I've felt very lucky to collaborate with amazing musicians. In the 1970s, Woodstock, NY, was jam-packed with great players and the club scene was so vibrant you'd see everybody (just about every night) hanging out in town. I got to meet and work with Paul Butterfield, Maria Muldaur, Pat Alger, The Band, John Sebastian, Rory Block, Eric Andersen and many other musicians. So although collaboration is nothing new to me it's always exciting.

The specific idea for "Meetings With Remarkable Friends" came from my friend Robbie Dupree, whom you may remember from his song "Steal Away" which was a pop hit in the 1980s. We were jamming one day and Robbie said, "You know so many cool musicians, you should sit down with them and record duets." I thought it was a great idea and immediately made a list of people I wanted to play with. The list was huge. At first I thought I'd record simple duets with musicians that came through Woodstock and do it all myself. Soon afterward, my manager, Jeff Heiman, presented the idea to Narada Records and they loved the concept. So I started calling people. I fully expected all of them to say no, especially because everyone's so busy these days. One of the first calls was to Bela Fleck and I was surprised that he agreed to do the session. I flew down to Nashville and went in the studio with Bela, Sam Bush, and a fine rhythm section. I was on my way! The challenge for me was to write material that would keep these incredible players involved and interested. The best part was actually getting to work with Tony Levin, Adrian Belew, David Grisman, John Sebastian, The Band. Some of them have been friends for a long time, like Sebastian and Grisman. I've never met Adrian Belew, however, and we did our tune by mail. "Meetings With Remarkable Friends" was a real labor of love, one that took me all over the country.

Q: I know that you've recently become one of the newest clinicians for Taylor Guitars. What types of material do you cover in the Taylor workshops?

ARTIE: I just came back from a Taylor Guitars tour through Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Being a clinician for Taylor has been a wonderful experience for me. What I like to do is play my fingerstyle guitar pieces, like "Fourteen Turtles," "Yankee Swamp" and "Serpa," and then explain my technique to the players in the audience. Generally, I focus on how to use the thumb for fingerstyle and the importance of keeping your thumb steady. I also discuss musicianship, such as keeping steady time, playing cleanly, and melodic structure. Since I write most of my pieces in DADGAD tuning these days, I try to turn people on to working in DADGAD. I show the basic chords and how to expand ideas in that tuning. I learn a lot each time I do a clinic, since the people who come often teach me a lot in return. The folks at Taylor Guitars are very nice, honorable people and I find there's a grassroots support for Taylor instruments that's unprecedented. And deservedly so.

Q: Which Taylor guitar model are you playing?

ARTIE: I play three Taylor models, but right now I have the K-22, which is made from Koa wood. Koa is from Hawaii. It's a very beautiful, ornate wood which produces a sweet, resonant sound. I find this guitar is perfect for fingerstyle playing. I'm especially infatuated with Taylor Guitars' necks: The action is very fast and there's a jazz feel to the frets. With a set of light gauge Elixir strings, I can solo with ease when I'm playing with my band--Josh Colow on bass and Dean Sharp on drums.

Q: Any chance of an Artie Traum signature model coming out?

ARTIE: I would, of course, love to have an Artie Traum signature model. I'd call it the Fourteen Turtles guitar. However, there's been no word about that so far!

Q: There was a time when the names Happy and Artie Traum were synonymous. Do you and your brother still have occasion to work much together?

ARTIE: Happy and I work together from time to time, especially at folk festivals, and its always fun for us. We're playing a couple of gigs this summer. We're also thinking of re-releasing our very first two CD's by Fall. We get tons of requests for those early songs. Happy is quite involved with Homespun Tapes, so he's not out on the road all that much as a performer. I've moved into different styles too, including -dare I say it- some music that's close to "smooth jazz." In fact, "Letters From Joubee" was a #1 Smooth Jazz radio album in 1995. I like to think this is the kind of hip smooth jazz made by Pat Metheny, Acoustic Alchemy and Bela Fleck... not the sappy drum-machine stuff everybody hates. Happy is more interested in the funky folk and blues stuff that he does so well, so there are times when our styles diverge. I like it all and enjoy wearing different hats on different days.

Q: You have done a number of instructional videos for Happy's Homespun Tapes company. Are there any new videos in the works for you?

ARTIE: Glad you asked! I've just finished two new instructional videos for Homespun. One is "An Introduction to DADGAD" which shows beginners how to play in the DADGAD tuning. The other is "Essential Riffs For Acoustic Guitar. Part 1 Blues" which teaches all kinds of great flatpick-style riffs that can be used in blues, jazz etc. They should be out fairly soon.

Q: Are you currently involved in any session work, or producing other artists?

ARTIE: I just finished co-producing Tony Levin's solo bass CD called "Waters of Eden." Tony Levin is one of the premier bass players of our time. He's played with everyone from John Lennon to Paul Simon to Tracy Chapman, but of course is best known for work with Peter Gabriel and King Crimson. The album is coming out on Narada in two weeks. I've also been producing CDs for Narada called "Masters of Acoustic Guitar." So far we've released CDs by Don Ross, a phenomenal guitarist from Canada; Laurence Juber; and Alex de Grassi.

Q: I love the production work you did on my friend Diane Zeigler's 1995 CD "Sting of the Honeybee." Will you be working together again?

ARTIE: I loved working with Diane Zeigler and she's a good friend. I consider Diane to be one of the finest singer-songwriters out performing today. She's also a fine guitarist--her tunings and fingerpicking are excellent. I played some guitar parts on her next CD, which is just being finished, and I'm always glad to work with her - in any way.

Q: Are you doing any international touring?

ARTIE: Right now, there's nothing planned internationally. I've toured a lot in Sicily, and even won an award there as a journalist for a travel piece I wrote for the New York Times. So the last time I went back was in June, where I was wined and dined as a writer, not a musician. I'd go to Sicily anytime, for any reason. I'm hoping to perform in Europe or Japan again soon, but nothing's pending right now.

Q: Artie, you wear so many hats in the music industry. Do you have a favorite hat: touring, recording, producing, writing, video, etc?

ARTIE: My favorite thing to do is plant my peas and garlic, which I'm doing right now in the garden. Otherwise I think recording is the most fun for me. I'm going in the studio this week, actually, to record a few new pieces. I also enjoy just sitting on the couch, watching tv, and playing my guitars. I'm most fond of doing simple things although in this world it's hard to find the time.

Q: I learned from your website http://www.artietraum.com/ about your first band, Children of Paradise. Any possibility that the album you recorded with that band is still available in any form?

ARTIE: The Children of Paradise . . . wow . . . now that was a band. I don't know if that album is available. I might have a copy around somewhere, but I don't think it's been re-released. Many of the songs are on a movie called "Greetings" now on video, which was Brian de Palma's and Robert de Niro's first movie. The songs hold up pretty well.

Q: How about the first Happy and Artie Traum album?

ARTIE: The first album is only available in Japan right now. We're planning to change that soon.

Q: Any thoughts about how the Internet will change the music industry?

ARTIE: The Internet is a force for democracy since anyone can now sell their music on the web. That doesn't mean that people will find it. It only means that enterprising musicians have another way to be heard and do business. In some ways, this is great news. The record industry has had too much control over product and distribution for too many years. On the other hand, the world is getting clogged with lots of poorly made CDs over the past few years.

Q: OK, Artie, one more thing. Is there anything in your personal CD collection which we might be surprised that you listen to?

ARTIE: I listen to a wide range of music. I can't get enough James Taylor, or Livingston Taylor, but that wouldn't surprise anyone. I also love the Dolly Parton bluegrass CD. I'm a huge fan of Sonny Landreth. More surprising: the piano CDs of Warren Bernhardt. Jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba--who's phenomenal--his CD "Inner Voyage" blows me away. I love the Karla Bonoff collection. There's a re-issue jazz album called "The Best Blue Note Collection" which has some of the best jazz I've ever heard.

Artie's new CD "Meetings with Remarkable Friends" is available at your favorite CD store, and can also be found on-line through Narada's web site. http://www.narada.com/

For more information about Artie Traum, please visit the Artie Traum website.

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