"All this underscores Traum's superb taste, excellent ear for arrangements, and smart moves in choosing backup players. This is a tasty release for folk-music die-hards and, really, anyone who enjoys folk music. Thanks to Happy Traum, we can all walk the road again." - Dirty Linen "'I Walk the Road Again' is a breathtaking collection of bittersweet country-folk and blues tunes. ...the effort boasts brilliant arrangements of a host of old favorites from Happy's voluminous repertoire. A low-key masterpiece, this album demonstrates that it's not the pace that matters so much as the road itself. It's a road we're glad to see Happy Traum walking so well again." - Peter Aaron, Kingston Daily Freeman "A solidly entertaining and tasty new folk recording. Traum is still infinitely listenable, musically creative and about as good an acoustic folk guitarist as there is.... Simply put, "I Walk the Road Again" is a winner, an excellent addition to any collection and a must-have for any folkie." - Noah Fleisher, Pulse The songs in this collection are old favorites of mine that I’ve been singing and playing for the better part of my life. Some are traditional, their authors’ names lost in the mists of time; others are the work of artists I have long admired. Regardless of when it was written, each of these songs carries the stamp of a great folk song, telling a story or conveying an emotion that remains fresh for me even after all these many years. My first musical hero, Pete Seeger, indirectly taught me Danville Girl, Empty Pockets Blues and Times A-Getting Hard. They were on some of Pete’s earliest Folkways LPs, and I learned them at a time when I was devouring everything he recorded. On the other hand, Brownie McGhee taught me Betty and Dupree, Sporting Life Blues and Step It Up and Go first-hand when I studied guitar with him in the late fifties. Singing them brings back to me the many hours I spent in the warmth of his apartment on East 125th Street, and the excitement of learning from this powerful blues artist. I can’t remember the first time I heard the oft-sung ballad Marianne, but I’ve been singing it since my earliest infatuation with folk songs. Likewise, I don’t know where Blues Ain’t Nothin’ came from, except that Artie and I used to play it frequently at gigs and I undoubtedly learned it from him. I was fortunate to have first heard Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You in Bob Dylan’s living room in 1969. He had just returned to Woodstock with some rough cuts of his “Nashville Skyline” album, and this moving song was among the ones he played for me in his wood-walled Byrdcliffe home. Pinto Pony is one of several classic songs Paul Siebel wrote back in the early ‘70s. It appeared on the second of his two now-legendary albums, “Jackknife Gypsy.” It was also in the ‘70s that I first became friends with the English singer/songwriter Allan Taylor and learned his wonderful song, It’s Good to See You. Both Friends and Neighbors and I Walk the Road Again were collected in the 1940s from the traditional singer George Edwards and published in the landmark book, “Folk Songs of the Catskills.” Having lived in these mountains for forty years, I feel a particular affinity for the atmosphere, history and tradition that these songs impart. Although most of these songs have been recorded many times through the years, I have tried to put my own stamp on them. I hope I have succeeded in bringing them new life, and that they give pleasure to my listeners. Happy Traum Woodstock, NY April 2005