Paul Wells, one of the country’s leading fiddle scholars, has been researching, studying, playing, and presenting fiddle music for more than four decades. He specializes in the social and cultural history of fiddling, and in tune and repertoire studies. The founding director of the Center for Popular Music at Middle Tennessee State University, Wells moved to Maine in 2010 upon his retirement from university life. In 2014, together with Tom Wilsbach, he curated the exhibit “Wicked Good Fiddling: 200 years of Fiddling, Fiddlers, and Fiddle-Making in Maine” at the Portland Public Library. The chance acquisition of a small trove of Celtic-label 78s of Cape Breton fiddling in 1975 was the first step on a long, pleasant, and continuing journey of discovery and love for the island’s amazing musical tradition.