Carrie Dlutkowski (she/her) is a fiddler and percussive dancer from upper Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula. She counts Canadian and American fiddle traditions among her many influences. Carrie is fluent in diverse genres: as a fiddler, she has played in concerts and festivals, and for dances and educational presentations. As a classical musician, she has performed in various solo, symphony and opera orchestra, music theater, and chamber ensemble settings. 

Carrie started playing violin at the age of five, and received classical training throughout childhood. When she was fourteen, she began to play with the esteemed Upper Peninsula (U.P.) band White Water, led by Bette and Dean Premo, musicians who are at the heart of the U.P.’s folk music scene. Carrie considers herself fortunate to be able to experience and participate in the musical culture of her home area.

As a teenager, Carrie began attending fiddle camps. At Leahy Music Camp in Lakefield, Ontario, she began learning Ottawa Valley step dance from sisters and award-winning dancers Julie and Kerry Fitzgerald.

Carrie’s varied musical projects have included directing the Community Pelimannit, a multi-generational community fiddle workshop series which was hosted by Finlandia University’s Finnish American Heritage Center; and coaching the musicians’ cohort of a Finnish folk dance youth group. Through the Northwoods Music Collaborative, as well as Headwaters Music and Arts, she has presented numerous youth educational programs on the musical history of Canada and the US northwoods region, for audiences ranging in age from young children to teens. Carrie has served on the staff of Michigan Technological University as a violin instructor. She is a recurring fiddle and percussive dance instructor at Headwaters Fiddle Camp.

Carrie enjoys arranging music and has released two albums with her family band. She has collaborated in concert with acclaimed musicians Brian Miller (The Lost Forty, Bua) and Norah Rendell (The Outside Track, Executive Artistic Director of the Center for Irish Music).
Carrie studied old-time Canadian fiddle with Canadian Grand Master champion Patti Kusturok, and she has expanded her practice of percussive dance traditions through studying with world-renowned dancer Nic Gareiss. Carrie is a recipient of two Michigan Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program scholarships (through Michigan State University) and an Elyce Fishman scholarship (through Wheatland Music Organization), in support of her studies with Gareiss.