Alan, who teaches music at the University of Maine in Machias, comes from a family of nine, all of whom played instruments. Family gatherings, he says, were a hoot. Alan himself started guitar at age five. The university hired him to teach based on his life experiences. He says he went from high school dropout to college professor in one fell swoop. Today he takes pride in his versatility—performances can include tunes from the twenties to recent original compositions.