PORT ROYAL — Maison Wolfe never wanted to sound like anyone else. Not in marching band, not in choir and definitely not when he’s standing alone on a basketball court or in victory lane with a guitar and the national anthem hanging in the air.

He plays it his way — loose, raw, a little dangerous — and that refusal to color inside the lines has pushed him straight into one of the most selective honors a young Pennsylvania musician can earn.

Wolfe, a Juniata High School graduate and now a music education major at Duquesne University, was selected to attend the 2023 Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Future Music Educators Honors Symposium, a program that accepts just 20 seniors statewide.

It’s a nod not just to talent but to potential — the kind of recognition reserved for students who already look like future leaders in the field.

For Wolfe, the path to Erie started long before college.

“I just loved music from around third grade,” said the 20-year-old Wolfe, who lives in Port Royal. “In fifth grade, I got my first guitar. I started actually playing with it and practicing around 9th grade.”

What began as curiosity turned into a full-blown identity, shaped by a family soundtrack that never stayed in one lane.

“My grandfather’s on both sides influenced me a lot,” Wolfe added. “One out in Montana was a huge Doors and ’70s rock guy and the one here in PA loved all the old country stuff. My mom liked metal and my dad was a jam band guy. It all definitely hooked me into getting started. The blend of all this different music inspired me to learn about it all and how it worked.”

Juniata High School band director Brad Eargle saw that curiosity long before Wolfe ever stepped onto a college campus.

“Maison’s come a long way since his time at Juniata, and he has a number of traits that will help him as he continues to grow as a musician,” Eargle said. “I think the thing that sticks out the most is that he was one of the most curious students I’ve ever come across. Anytime he wanted to learn about something, he’d take a deep dive into finding out as much as he could about whatever it was.”

Eargle said Wolfe devoured everything put in front of him.

“And almost anything I put in front of him, he’d consume — listening lists, theory assignments, practice strategies — everything,” he said. “He also carried himself well as an ensemble member. Within our program, he was a model of student leadership. Maison was always one of the first to arrive at rehearsals and one of the last to leave, and he was often around to lend a hand cleaning up the rehearsal room before going home.”

Eargle believes Wolfe’s journey is only beginning.

“He’s still got a long way to go in his musical journey, but I think he has a lot of the tools he needs to become successful, and I’m excited to see where music takes him,” he said.

On April 4, his music took him home to Port Royal Speedway, kicking off a night of racing with an exhilarating version of the Star-Spangled Banner. His version is instrumental, with him flailing away on his electric guitar while decked out in a red, white and blue shirt, blue jeans and a cool pair of shades.

Every patriotic riff echoes through the night sky, soon filled with the revving of engines. His final chords draw a loud ovation from the crowd in the stands at the Juniata County oval.

That perfect blend of familiarity and creativity shows up every time he plays the anthem — the performance that has become his calling card. Wolfe doesn’t treat the anthem like a rigid assignment. He treats it like a canvas.

Wolfe was invited to play the Star-Spangled Banner at this year’s NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Tournament, held at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“I almost always never play something exactly the same to keep me entertained,” he said.

That unpredictability is part of his appeal. It’s also what caught the attention of SportsNet Pittsburgh’s Ben Rusnak. “I did an anthem for a normal Duquesne basketball game then it got around social media and Ben Rusnak from SportsNet Pittsburgh sought me out to do it,” Wolfe said.

Now he lives on campus in Pittsburgh, balancing college life with performances that keep getting bigger. “Well… all they told me is I have to show up at 3 and it will probably be where the winners go after the race,” Wolfe said.

When Wolfe plays outside, he cranks the volume. “When I play the anthem on guitar outside I am being mic’d up because it needs to be louder,” he said. And he prefers it that way — solo, unrestrained and completely in control.

“Every time I played the anthem on guitar it was by myself and I like it because I don’t have to follow anyone or stay with them and I go at my own pace,” Wolfe said. “With the marching band I had to be a background to the melody.”

His musical résumé is wide-ranging. “I played the baritone horn for all the bands like marching band and concert band. I also did choir,” he added. “I started playing the trumpet in fourth grade.”

If he could start over, he’d go straight to percussion. “I wish I would’ve learned drums first if I had to do it all over,” Wolfe said. “Rhythm is everything for music and I am just getting better at it now.”

Wolfe considers Trey Anastasio from PHISH to be his guitar and music hero.

He’s already had a taste of teaching, too. “Oh yeah! That was really cool. I got to act like a music teacher before I even went for my degree,” Wolfe said. “Thanks for that, I forgot I even did that.”

Now he’s molding his craft in Pittsburgh as one of the state’s top future educators — a guitarist who refuses to play it safe, a student who refuses to blend in and a musician who learned early that the best sound is the one that doesn’t sit still.