In May I got a call from my dad  inviting me to play with him at the Byrdcliffe Festival which happened to fall on Father's Day this year. My sister, April Traum, a great drummer and percussionist in her own right was also on the gig. I flew across the continent from California to my hometown of Woodstock, N.Y., with my wife and son to play a little music and have some much needed vacation time. It didn't take a whole lot of convincing to get my bassist, Jack Hines to come along as well. We got in late the night before the gig and only had a little time to rehearse and sound check but were pretty much flying by the seat of our pants. The concert was held in a beautiful old Catskill Mountain barn that mercifully was not too hot! 

With no expectations other than knowing it would be a good time, we reconveined at the barn after sound check to a steady stream of people making their way in. It looked like a full house! I saw people I hadn't seen in a long time and it was a wonderful musical homecoming. Most at the gig hadn't seen me play a public show like this before and I was a little nervous. Happy started the show and as I took the stage my nerves quickly calmed. We took turns leading songs and and my sister would come up on stage and lay down a groove on her old Ludwigs when it felt right. John Sebastian, an old family friend joined in on some tunes playing a beautiful harmonica and Jack sat in the pocket like he does so well. The hour and a half set flew by and the first Traum Family Band show was by all accounts a great success. It was the first, but I hopefully it wasn't the last!