Vassar Carlton Clements (April 25, 1928[1] – August 16, 2005[2]) was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler.

In late 1949, Wise left Monroe's group, and the 21 year-old Clements traveled by bus to ask for an audition.

Earl Scruggs' path-breaking banjo style had premiered with Bill Monroe in the late 1940s, and thereafter gained widespread renown with Lester Flatt and the Foggy Mountain Boys.

By the mid-1960s, however, his struggles with alcohol left him making his living in blue-collar trades, being employed briefly at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida as a plumber, in a Georgia paper mill, and as switchman for Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.

He even sold insurance and once operated a convenience store while owning a potato chip franchise in Huntsville, Alabama.

After a brief touring stint with Faron Young he joined John Hartford's Dobrolic Plectral Society in 1971,[1] when he met guitarist Norman Blake and Dobro player Tut Taylor, and recorded Aereo-Plain, a widely acclaimed "newgrass" album that helped broaden the bluegrass market and sound.

In 1973, he joined and toured with the bluegrass supergroup Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia,[1] David Grisman, Peter Rowan, and John Kahn; their self-titled live album Old & In the Way was released in 1975.

In 1974 he lent his talents to Highway Call, a solo album by former Allman Brothers Band guitarist Dickey Betts.

I always loved rhythm, so I guess in the back of my mind the swing and jazz subconsciously comes out when I play, because when I was learning I was always trying to emulate the big-band sounds I heard on my fiddle."