On This Date (July 20, 2008) Artie Traum / Respected Folk Guitarist

Artie Traum
April 13, 1943 – July 20, 2008

Artie Traum, was an award winning guitarist who has recorded with the likes of the Band, David Grisman, Paul Butterfield, and James Taylor.  He died of complications from liver cancer at the age of 65.

Thanks to Craig Rosen at Number1Albums for the info

On This Date (February 27, 1986) Robbie Basho / Progressive Folk Guitarist

Robbie Basho
August 31, 1940 – February 27, 1986

Robbie Basho was a composer, guitarist and pianist, and one of the pioneers of the acoustic steel string guitar in America. His vision was to see the steel string as a concert instrument and to create a Raga system for America. During a radio interview in 1974, promoting his album Zarthus, Robbie discussed his music in detail. He described how he had gone through a number of “periods” related to philosophy and music, including Japanese, Hindu, and Native American. Zarthus represented the culmination his “Persian period”. Robbie asserted his wish, along with John Fahey and Leo Kottke, to raise the steel-string guitar to the level of a concert instrument. He acknowledged that the nylon-string guitar was suitable for “love songs”, but its steel counterpart could communicate “fire”. Basho credited his interest in Indian music to hearing Ravi Shankar, whom he first encountered in 1962. Basho died unexpectedly at the age of 45 due to a freak accident during a visit to his chiropractor, where an “intentional whiplash” experiment caused blood vessels in his neck to rupture, leading to a fatal stroke. – From wikipedia