A narrative about an achieved singer/songwriter musician who was raised by wolves in a bubble with no music wafting via his or her setting can be as large as it could be unlikely. A narrative a couple of man who’s now an achieved singer/songwriter who was raised in a really musical family surrounded by devices isn’t a surprise.
However native picker Adam Traum’s story remains to be uncommon.
Traum has lived along with his spouse Becky within the Sonoma Valley since 2003. They fell in love with this wonderful place whereas making occasional visits from their residence in San Francisco. They moved right here with their family possessions, a satchel filled with hopes and desires, Traum’s digicam gear, and some guitars.
Traum cameras have been his instruments for his gig as a photojournalist for a number of well-known publications. The guitars as a result of he “all the time performed music on the aspect.” At all times, in his case, means since in regards to the age of 5, however he was surrounded by music since start.
Traum is a part of the Woodstock, New York, Traums. His dad Blissful and his uncle Artie have an extended and fabled historical past within the people music scene of that a part of the world. Adam was raised in Woodstock, and in keeping with his dad, Blissful, “It wasn’t uncommon to have musicians in the home, to have jamming occurring… native musicians coming over for dinner and hanging out after and taking part in music, it was like a traditional factor for him.”
A few of these musicians have been fairly well-known gamers themselves. Richie Havens, John Sebastian, Levon Helm and Bob Dylan have been a part of the crew doing that jamming within the Traum residence. Oh, to have been a fly on these partitions.
Traum remains to be concerned along with his dad and mom, now professionally, with their Homespun Music Instruction, predominantly an internet concern. Homespun was based 50 years in the past, traditionally a music e book writer with an emphasis on acoustic guitar and people music. Traum offers guitar classes, shoots and edits movies, and handles a lot of the technical parts of the enterprise. His dad nonetheless handles the artistic finish of Homespun. His mother, Jane, who was a younger, proficient actor in New York earlier than getting Blissful, now oversees the enterprise finish of Homespun.
Adam, 54, is sort of consumed by music, each occupationally and along with his soul. Traum mentioned, “I do a bunch of elements of music. Between manufacturing and instructing and taking part in, I’m able to scrape out a residing. And when the pandemic isn’t raging, I play gigs.”
He additionally writes and information his personal songs. In the course of the pandemic, he used his time correctly and recorded a brand new CD he calls “Legacy.” Utilizing the house know-how that’s now so broadly out there, Traum reduce 13 songs, together with 10 originals. Traum enlisted his musical accomplice Jack Hines to play bass on a number of songs and to offer pure “biophony” sounds from Sonoma Valley on one music, “Little Items.” His dad, Blissful Traum, performed guitar on a number of cuts. Blissful mentioned, “I performed on (title reduce) ‘Legacy,’ a really private music for Adam, and on Steve Earle’s ‘Hometown Blues.’ I performed slightly lead, we traded licks and stuff.”
The preparations on the CD “Legacy” are sparse and ethereal, with a open and sincere really feel about them. Traum’s singing is stronger than ever, and his guitar work stays stellar, with stylistic inspiration drawn from the blues and people songs he heard as a child.
One one who remembers Adam as a child is John Sebastian, of the Lovin’ Spoonful. “Adam’s environment have been advantageous,” Sebastian deadpanned. Reached by telephone at his residence in Woodstock, the enthusiastic Sebastian spoke of all of the festivals that have been held in and round Woodstock, pushed by Adam’s dad and his uncle Artie. “Adam was a part of all these rehearsals…and it caught.”
“He’s a terrific man,” Sebastian added. The Traums and the Sebastians have remained good associates through the years and are nonetheless regulars at one another’s kitchen tables. Sebastian mentioned, “We name ourselves the ‘Sebastraums.’”
Blissful, 82, additionally reached by telephone from Woodstock, mentioned this about elevating Adam in that loopy musical home, “To my delight, he all the time liked the rootsy blues and nation kinds that I used to be into, so we by no means needed to put up with head-banging steel or gangsta rap that may be anticipated from an adolescent within the ‘80s. It made his childhood, and our parenting, very straightforward.”
With satisfaction in his voice, he added this in regards to the music itself: “He absorbed stuff from me, and now he might train me a factor or two. His musical horizons expanded pretty early, though we’ve got all the time performed collectively fairly properly. Virtually like father and son.” The truth is, the 2 carry out collectively sometimes at people music festivals throughout the nation.
Adam mentioned, “I actually love taking part in with my dad. It is among the issues I miss most in regards to the pandemic is taking part in the exhibits with him.”
“Legacy” is Adam Traum’s third CD. “I let the primary exit of print. My second, ’Simply Like Residence’ (2012), was an enormous breakthrough for me. After which there’s the one from (his native band) the Mosey Boys, so I suppose I’ve 4 information.”
“Legacy” is on the market on his web site, adamtraum.com. Traum will once more be seen round city performing along with his present band the Straw Wattles, which options Hines on bass and the good Josh Yenne on guitar.
For these of us who keep in mind the “nice people music scare of the ‘60’s,” Traum is a connection to these days and people sensibilities. Traum remembers the “authenticity of the musicians in Woodstock that basically rubbed off on me.”
Adam Traum is a humble but noteworthy musical treasure, homespun, proper right here in our yard.
