Matthew P. Tessier

Matt Tessier, a lifelong Louisiana resident, has been involved in the bluegrass music community as a banjo player and vintage instrument collector for the past 20 years.  Like many others, Matt started learning music on the piano at age six but became a banjo player at age 10 after discovering the music of Earl Scruggs.  He has played with many local bands during his lifetime and was featured in the award-winning 2011 documentary short film Fanning the Fire produced by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation.  Matt has worked with the Foundation on nearly all its events as a stage and artist accommodation manager since 2013.

For the past five years Matt has worked for Cavender’s Boot City, based in Tyler, Texas, and presently manages their store in Shreveport, Louisiana.  He is an avid watch collector who founded a Facebook group called the Accutron Collectors in 2017.  The group has grown to a membership of 1500 and is now the largest Accutron-specific organization in the world.