Multi-instrumentalist Suzy Thompson fell in love with Cajun music when she heard the Balfa Brothers at a folk festival in the mid-1970s. In 1981, she received an NEA grant to apprentice with master fiddler Dewey Balfa in Louisiana; other influences include Dennis McGee, Cheese Read, and Canray Fontenot. In 1983, Suzy formed the California Cajun Orchestra; they have 2 award-winning albums on the Arhoolie label. After Dewey Balfa's death in 1982, Suzy began studying Cajun accordion with Danny Poullard. Suzy has been a Cajun fiddle instructor at Augusta Cajun-Creole Week, Port Townsend Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and Ashokan Southern Week.

Suzy has recorded with the California Cajun Orchestra, Blue Flame Stringband, Any Old Time, the Klezmorim, Eric Thompson, and as a side musician with Laurie Lewis, Rinde Eckert, Sukay, and the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band. Suzy appears in Les Blank's film J'ai Etais Au Bal (aired nationally on PBS as French Dance Tonight), playing fiddle with D.L. Menard and Danny Poullard. In 2010, Suzy became Artistic Director of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, a week-long workshop and festival in Port Townsend, Washington.

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