06/14/2026
Can't wait to see Dennis Stroughmatt at the Moses Austin Heritage Festival. OMAHS will be set up with publications & info at the Austin Store, near the Bread oven.
Dennis Stroughmatt will be performing, Saturday, June 20, at 4 pm at Town Square Park & Amphitheater Washington County immediately before the “A Living History of Washington County” play at 6 pm.
Dennis Stroughmatt is a French-speaking fiddler, vocalist, cultural preservationist, educator, and long-time Road Scholar whose work spans Cajun, Creole, Western Swing, and the rare Illinois–Missouri French traditions of “Upper Louisiana” Flat Town Music Company. He is widely recognized as a National Oldtime Fiddlers Hall of Fame inductee and a cultural ambassador of French-rooted American music Flat Town Music Company.
Raised in southeastern Illinois, Stroughmatt was taught fiddle by Missouri Creole fiddlers Roy Boyer and Charlie Pashia in the tradition of their fathers, and later by Wade Ray, a southern Illinois Western Swing legend www.creolefiddle.com+1. He also studied with Cajun fiddlers like Hadley J. Castille and honky-tonk stylists such as Buddy Spicher www.honkytonkfiddle.com. His early exposure to Bob Wills, Ray Price, and other Western Swing artists shaped his musical sensibility, which he later blended with Creole and Cajun traditions www.honkytonkfiddle.com.
Stroughmatt became an adopted son of the French Midwest Creoles who settled near St. Louis, performing at weekly “bouillons” (house parties) and learning the Illinois French dialect www.creolefiddle.com. His travels to Louisiana, Quebec, and Tennessee deepened his expertise in French-rooted fiddle styles Flat Town Music Company. He is known for bridging the gap between Upper Louisiana Creole culture and Lower Louisiana Cajun traditions, making him a living link to a vanishing cultural heritage www.creolefiddle.com
He co-founded Creole Stomp in 2002 with Robert Russell, a Cajun–Zydeco band celebrated for its energetic, dancer-driven shows and improvisational jams www.creolestomp.com. The group blends Cajun, Creole, zydeco, blues, and Western Swing, earning a reputation as “The Grateful Dead of Creole Music” www.creolestomp.com.
Stroughmatt has performed at major festivals across North America, including the Philadelphia Folk Festival, Bayou’N’Boogie Festival, and Memphis Beale Street Zydeco Festival www.creolestomp.com.
His recordings include The Gambler’s Fiddle (Swallow), Cadet Rouselle (Swallow), and Le Tracas de Morris with Morris Ardoin (Maison de Soul) Flat Town Music Company. He has been featured on NPR, PBS, CNN, and Prairie Home Companion Flat Town Music Company. In 2023, he was awarded the Médaille d’Or du Rayonnement Culturel by the Ambassador of France and La Renaissance Française for his work preserving IL–MO French music Flat Town Music Company.
Stroughmatt holds an MA in history and a Certificate of French Quebecois Studies, combining scholarship with performance Flat Town Music Company. He teaches music camps and workshops across the Midwest, instructing in Cajun, Creole, and Western Swing styles.
Dennis Stroughmatt is a master fiddler, cultural historian, and educator whose career spans decades, blending French Creole, Cajun, and Western Swing traditions to preserve and celebrate a unique part of American musical heritage.
