Dennis Stroughmatt

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #124 (June/July 2006).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Dennis Stroughmatt

Not Your Ordinary Missouri Paw-Paw French Fiddler

by Dan Willging

"If you want to touch that culture, go touch it," said Dennis Stroughmatt, recounting the sage advice of a college professor about one of the midwest's last French-speaking enclaves in Old Mines, Missouri, located in the rugged Ozarks. "Don't just read about it in a book. Go find out who they are."

It was getting close to midnight as the 34-year-old roots musician/French linguist/historian recalled the pivotal moments that fueled his quest over the last 15 years, which stretched from the Ozarks to the Cajun/Creole country of Southwest Louisiana to Quebec and French Canada. The nutshell version of the Stroughmatt bio is this: By apprenticing with Missouri Creole French fiddlers Roy and Pete Boyer (cousins) and Charlie Pashia, Stroughmatt has become a leading authority on an old style that was brought to the area by early-18th-century French settlers. Through weekend trips to Old Mines as a college student in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he mastered the regional Creole French dialect, something he says has an affinity to both Cajun and Acadian French and has only recently died out due to the passing of the last generation of native speakers. Along the way, Stroughmatt also immersed himself in Louisiana Cajun/Creole music and culture, becoming a sought-after participant in both musical communities. When he isn't fronting his own group, Creole Stomp, on accordion and fiddle, Stroughmatt often tours with Louisiana Creole musicians Dexter and/or Morris Ardoin, or performs as a duo act with his wife, Jennifer. Needless to say, Stroughmatt leads an interesting life, one he wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Stroughmatt has just released his second album, The Gambler's Fiddle: French Creole Fiddle Tunes and Ballads from Old Upper Louisiana, Vol. 1, on Swallow Records, a Ville Platte, Louisiana-based imprint. Having the Swallow icon on the CD is prestigious not only for distribution and catalog presence, but even more so for the fact that 99% of Swallow's artists hail directly from the Cajun/Creole culture. But instead of the driving dancehall Creole and zydeco music of Dennis Stroughmatt and Creole Stomp's 2005 release, Creole Stranger, this one honors and preserves the music and culture of the Missouri Creoles, who have rarely been documented in a commercial release. More importantly, Stroughmatt wishes to create an awareness of the Missouri Creole culture in the territory that was once known to its North American French brethren across Canada, New England, and Louisiana as Illinois Country (Upper Louisiana), comprising parts of modern-day Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, and Arkansas.

"To me, the CD is a representation of Upper Louisiana that, in a lot of ways, is long forgotten by the French in Canada, as well as the cousins of the French in the state of Louisiana," Stroughmatt explained. "This is a good representation of who I am musically and where my French Creole roots lie. I am finally getting the opportunity to help preserve the posterity of the people I learned from."

[cover #124]