Lonesome Fiddle Blues

Vassar Clements along with The Del McCoury Band on All Star Bluegrass Celevbration II DVD. Recorded on April 2nd 2003 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Vassar
• Clements
• Del
• McCoury
• Band
• Bluegrass

[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!!

[FloatingGrin]

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

[MrGitpicker]

@acefiddle so you must know Eric Levine then?

[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.

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.