Lonesome Fiddle Blues

[frmertd]

vassar is just amazing. His fingers of his left hand barely seem to move at all and the bowing is just so smooth. Fiddles now play so many notes in their music as if it's a contest to see who can fit in the most notes. They should take notes from Vassar on how it's really done.

[oldhatband]

Vassar's bowing seemed so effortless and smooth. This video shows off some of the finest string musicians on the planet.

[rskurow]

What a great fiddler and human being he was. Thank you Vassar for all the music and inspiration you left us all.

[Tonefid115]

Vassar was a fantastic fiddler with a unique style of playing!

[stevesprinceofsteaks]

Vassar was as good as it gets. Got to meet him in Dallas in the 80's. Smoked a pipe. Would put it lit into his pocket-play-take it out and puff.Great. He ,Chubby Wise, Benny Martin and others grew up in Depression. Would play bluegrass one night, formal dance the next. They had to be versatile to eat. Loved them all, but Vassar was and is still my favorite. Get lucky once in a while and hit one of his unique licks. It's so easy that it's almost impossible.

[termite66]

Vassar still makes me smile a big, dumb smile when I hear his incomprehensible genius. WOW!

[danlashbrookgtrsetup]

Vasser was the greatest

[dohertykaki]

YEE HAW!!!!!!!!! I love it!!

[acefiddle]

Ya know gang, alot of fiddle tunes sound alike. Charlie daniels just compiled a few of them to make his music. Nothing new here. I been playin fiddle for 40 years now and once in awhile i mistake one tune for the other. And yes, I did have the chance to meet Vassar Clements in FT. Collins Colorado. A fine ,gentle figure of a man. He let me hold his fiddle to check it out. Iit was nice. The Advice he gave me was"Never quit playin or get discouraged with the fiddle" God rest his soul!

Dont Hate!!

[rdmottern]

On Vassar's fiddle dvd, "The Fiddle According to Vassar," he states that he wrote this tune for someone else and years later Charlie Daniels adapted it for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." Apparently there were a few versions of what was originally Vassar's tune. Like the gentleman he was, he was happy to let others adapt and create without claiming priority. Those I know who payed with him have nothing but good things to say about him.

[finalTH]

@rdmottern yea im his grandson and he talked to about that, he was a little mad but he just laughed it off he was truly a great guy

[fiddlyoleben]

@acefiddle No body is hating on Charlie Daniels! BUT he did take Devil went down to georgia from this mainly. BUT that was the point, so I don't dis him at all. All of the tunes he put into that song he put in deliberately. By adding all of those traditional fiddle tunes to his song he made it an instant classic. He did a GREAT job of it. You are right a lot of fiddle tunes sound a like, but he chose the MOST recognizable ones to make his song rise to fame quickly.

[MrGitpicker]

@acefiddle so you must know Eric Levine then?

[MandolinMastery]

That's not music it's liquid.

Just Moves together beutifuly

[BluegrassStation]

He definetly has his own different style of playing, but the sound that comes out of that fiddle is amazing!

[ScumBagKrewSkateTeam]

is he blind?

he doesnt move his eyes.

great playing.

[mbirawaffle]

Vassar told the story of how Charlie Daniels RIPPED HIM OFF until the day he died... and he never saw a dime.

[xms32]

lol, wtf are you talking about? LOL. Have another you drunk.

[mbirawaffle]

Did you personally KNOW Vassar? Did you ever TALK to Vassar? Did you ever PLAY with Vassar? I didn't think so... If you did ANY of these things, and Charlie Daniels name came up, you would have SURELY heard about it. You shouldn't talk about things you don't personally know about.

[FloatingGrin]

Nobody could fiddle like Vassar...nobody could do some other stuff either, but that would be a different story :)

[fiddler9635]

his bow is really loose?!

[t4kne]

yea, that bow would jump in the rack with any fiddler.

[bronc88]

vassar was from my home town of Kissimmee , saw him at his home few times . god bless you Vassar . Play on in heaven

[Danuishi]

holy crap, ray charles can play

[Loisenal]

Did Charlie Daniels "borrow" from this song to make Devil went down to Georgia?

[carteru93]

yup

[Danuishi]

holy crap, you're so right; i just noticed thanks to you... dwdtg is still a great song

[htfiddler]

I think Charlie took just under the 4 bars or whatever the copyright limit is, so it was legal.

[xms32]

You have no clue what you're talking about do you. You can't put a copyright on notation. Lyrics are the only thing that applies. That's why you've NEVER seen litigation concerning an instrumental. What you can do is attach notation to lyrics and copyright the entire project. That's the only way notation can be protected and it isn't even protected fully. Very loose law. This song has no lyrics so there's no copyright for this song.

[mbirawaffle]

You are correct about the copyright, but the fact remains that CD took the notes, and made his own song. Yes, part of the "folk process" but still a slimy thing to do to one of the sweetest, kindest people I have ever known.

[xms32]

Musicians have been doing that since the beginning of time. It will never change and it has nothing to do with anything other than money. There is nothing wrong with trying to profit financially in the hardest industry there is to make a buck in.

[xms32]

And no matter how much I can't stand Charlie Daniel's ability on the violin the fact remains that he wrote a much more memorable song than Vassar did. Its not taking anything away from Vassar its just the truth.

[mbirawaffle]

Very True! Although I have also found out that he stole the lyrics, too. So, yeah, you could say he "wrote" a more memorable song. I say he just had better marketing skills. Such is life in music... well, such is life, really!

[xms32]

Who did he copy the lyrics from? I haven't heard about that one.

[mbirawaffle]

Correction: I was led astray on this one, after doing some digging. The lyrics was a new one to me, too. In researching, I think CD was just "inspired" by "The Mountain Whippoorwhill" which is the same ol' story of making a deal with the devil.

[mbirawaffle]

Great! You don't mind if I take a couple of tunes from you then? Send me all your stuff, and I'll decide which one will sell. But I won't give you anything for it. You won't mind, because that's what we musicians do, right?

[FrankDeYoung]

Yup, even Johnny Cash did it.

[bronc88]

You were a lucky man . Vassar is from my home town of Kissimmee, fl but I was too young to really get to know him. but I do know he was the best and a fine man.,

[dsuperfan23]

He borrowed a couple of fiddle songs to create it.

[carteru93]

Just great!

[GinsingSullivan]

It doesn't get any better than this!! Thanks! Vassar was king of the fiddle!

[bigdjindustriez]

Wow the great "uncle Vassar" as Doc called him... he was the best for sure in that type of music

[westkaffhaenger]

very very veeeerrrry nice music =) wow, damn, i like it

[rivas420]

I was fortunate enough to see Vassar Clements several times. He was so approachable and fun. RIP.

[lorendad]

I was blessed to get to sit around a campfire with Mr Clements and others at the Great Northern Bluegrass Festival at Mole Lake, Wi. in the early 70's, what a great time that was! Thx for posting this video.

[PiodenGR]

Wow, just...wow! I'm in awe of this guy's ability, and am looking forward to playing this piece a fraction as well.

[mongorich]

that's Vassar Clements, you knuckleheads.

And no, he's not blind.

[spongemonkey1442]

I met Doc Watson...and Al Murphy if you've ever heard of him.

They're both super good!

[Mexmando]

Vassar = Unique

[Ropinfool72]

so is doc watson blind?

[brointheknow]

Yes. Doc Watson is blind.

[Ropinfool72]

Is Vassar Clements blind?

[Drizzletron]

No, that's just how it looks when someone is in a state of complete concentration.

Vassar didn't rely on flamboyant showmanship to sell himself, the way he played was more than enough.

[indydarkstar]

we miss you Vassar

[JTerrell72]

Simply inspiring!

[donaldjarman]

Donnie's country yo!