WEST LEBANON — As shoppers come and go from Kohl’s, they are often greeted by a mix of classical, bluegrass and Celtic music played by Roman Cornelius, set up along a raised garden wall to the side of the store’s entrance.
“I come down here quite frequently — two to three times a week,” Cornelius said earlier this month. “I don’t have a job right now,” he said.
Instead, he treats busking like a summer job, performing in public at locations around the state for pocket money passers-by toss into his case.
He was accompanied by his life coach, who declined to be identified, from Life Transition Services, a residential program for people with intellectual disabilities, in North Haverhill.
Cornelius was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, and said it causes him to have difficulty with learning and judgment. “That’s why I play music,” he said.
Because of the repetition of hearing the music from a young age and being taught by his dad, Richard Cornelius, who died in 2021, it sticks with him in a way other things don’t. “I’m very blessed that he taught me to play.”
At Life Transition Services, Cornelius lives in an apartment with a roommate. He has a life coach and a home provider who helps him with his meals and transportation, and monitors his behavior. In the colder months, he has worked at fast-food restaurants and done snowmaking.
In his 20s, he had several run-ins with the law. He served about four years in county jails around the state for various charges, including simple assault, to which he pleaded guilty in 2016.
“It’s a thing of giving back to the community — I did awful things when I was younger and I did the jail time,” he said. “I feel like my gift back to society is the music.”
