Unfortunately we lost Vassar Clements to lung cancer August 16th, 2005. In my opinion, he is the most important fiddle player of our time. He was a Bluegrass Boy from 1949-57, so he was influential in the early development of the genre. Since then, his music has crossed many musical genres while keeping its roots imbedded in bluegrass. Like many bluegrass fans my age, I first heard Vassar play on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Will the Circle Be Unbroken Album.” This album was very influential because it brought many new listeners to bluegrass music, and created a turning point in Vassar’s career, that in many ways seems to be a description of his musical importance. From that point on Vassar began playing with musicians of other genres and became known by their fans, which in turn started listening to Vassar’s bluegrass recordings. He has done this all with a very unique style of playing to create a sound that is recognizably his own.