The year was 1976 and I was a student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y. That year I organized the first Hobart and William Smith Folk Festival, which continued unabated for 27 years. One of my favorite things was to find and hire the performers, and among them was The Correctone String Band. The lead fiddle player was John Specker, and the band came for 3 consecutive years, playing up a storm for 2-3 days.

Years later, 35 to be exact, I find myself working on some of John’s violins! John now lives in Vermont, but continues to make authentic American old time music, now with his two daughters upon occasion. A few years back when John wandered into my shop, I reminded him of the old days, and gave him a recording of one of his performances with the Correctones at Hobart. He just gave me a CD of some reissued recordings of his from 1974. There is something very pleasing about the continuity of long relationships.

Matt Stamell

Amherst, Ma.