I traded my electric guitar for a fiddle upon hearing Dave Swarbrick play with Fairport Convention at the King’s Rook, in Ipswich, Massachusetts, back in 1970.  Roving out later from my home in central Maine, I soon discovered a cadre of  peer fiddling expeditionaries (including many MFC staffers)  and a couple of older generations boasting of some very fine country and traditional musicians.  Among these, Cherry Frechette, Otto Soper, Fred Pike, Leo Murphy, Simon St. Pierre, Ben Guillemette and Lucien Matthieu, to mention a few, made a great impact upon my life and music. Dudley Laufman of Canterbury, New Hampshire, whose itinerant musician’s license still brings him frequently to Maine, has also been a seminal musical influence, not to mention the very welcome new wave of younger musicians who are infusing our scene with great energy, creativity and feeling. Meantime, I continue to teach bowed strings to elementary school children, produce music events, assist in  music for worship, and perform around the state from my family base in Lewiston.