Born and raised in western Pennsylvania, Dr. James Schiavoni attended a year of law school after college, before returning to his first intellectual love of literature and earning a master’s degree at University of Cincinnati and a doctorate at Vanderbilt, in Nashville, where he met his future wife, Mary Anne. They split their time between East Tennessee and a house in Nashville, where they have family and enjoy bluegrass music at the small clubs. Both are active members at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Madisonville, where Dr. Schiavoni plays mandolin and guitar in the choir.