Fiddle Virtuoso Vassar Clements Dies

[I am the Paulrus]

Fiddle Virtuoso Vassar Clements Dies

By JOHN GEROME, Associated Press Writer

Tue Aug 16, 2005

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vassar Clements, a fiddle virtuoso and A-list studio musician who played with Paul McCartney and an array of others, died at his home Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer. He was 77.

Clements was hospitalized for 18 days earlier this year, receiving chemotherapy and other treatment. He had been under hospice care in recent weeks.

"He had no quality of life since he'd been diagnosed," said daughter Midge Cranor, who added that the cancer had spread to his liver and brain.

Clements — whose wife, Millie, died in 1998 — last performed Feb. 4 in Jamestown, N.Y., Cranor said.

"God blessed me in that I was able to hold his hand when he died," she said.

Clements' work bridged various styles, including country, jazz, bluegrass, rock 'n' roll and classical.

"When the rhythm is good, I can play it," he told The Associated Press in a 1988 interview.

During his career, he recorded on more than 2,000 albums, joining artists as varied as McCartney, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, the Grateful Dead,Bruce Hornsby, Hank Williams Jr., the Byrds, Woody Herman and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Clements, a Kinard, Fla., native who grew up in Kissimmee, Fla., also recorded more than two dozen albums of his own.

The 2005 Grammy for best country instrumental performance went to "Earl's Breakdown," by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band featuring Clements, Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs and Jerry Douglas.

"He got his start in bluegrass, but he was equally comfortable playing bebop and jazz and rock 'n' roll and he loved all those genres," said Jeff Hanna of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which tapped Clements for their landmark "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" Americana albums and also toured Japan with him. "He could sit in with anybody."

He even once recorded with the Monkees — by happenstance. He was working on a recording session when someone asked him if he wanted to stay and play on another one.

"I didn't know until later it was the Monkees," he said.

Besides being a gifted musician, Clements was fun to be around, Hanna said.

"He was incredibly hip," Hanna said. "He was just one of those guys. He was still the dapper Dan. My wife always said he was such a handsome devil. He always dressed impeccably."

Clements, who appeared in Robert Altman's 1975 film "Nashville," taught himself to play at age 7 and had no formal training. The first song he learned was "There's an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor."

"It was God's gift, something born in me," he said about his talent. "I was too dumb to learn it any other way. I listened to the (Grand Ole) Opry some. I'd pick it up one note at a time. I was young, with plenty of time and I didn't give up. You'd come home from school, do your lessons and that's it. No other distractions.

"I don't read music. I play what I hear."

Country and bluegrass singer-musician Ricky Skaggs said Clements developed his own style and influenced many young fiddle players in the 1970s, including Skaggs.

"He started learning licks from steel-guitar players, horn players, jazz guitar players. He learned from those guys and made a whole style of music and vocabulary, really, for fiddle players," Skaggs said. "I learned a lot of his licks. I asked him one time to show me one I couldn't figure out. Of course it made total sense when he did it. I loved him as a friend and admired him so much as a musician."

Clements was employed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a year in the mid-1960s, working on plumbing. At various times, he also worked in a Georgia paper mill, was a switchman for the Atlantic Coast Railroad, sold insurance and had a potato chip franchise.

But music was always part of his life.

"I'd always play. Square dances, anything," he said.

Funeral arrangements are pending, but Cranor said they would be held at a chapel in Mount Juliet, Tenn., and would be low-key. Her father wouldn't want a big to-do at the Ryman Auditorium or the Grand Ole Opry House, she said.

[I am the Paulrus]

i found it after doing alot of digging around on the net. what it was vassar clements worked on with macca. they make no mention of it in the obits or articles.

In 1974, Paul,Linda and family and Wings, spent 6 weeks in Nashville. while there, paul was invited by chet atkins to do some recording. one of the songs, which clements appeared on, called "Eloise", was a number written by Paul's dad, James. Chet thought it might cheer up the elder McCartney who was ill at the time.
here is the article that says it all:

When We Was Fab

Nashvillians remember Paul McCartney and Wings' working vacation here in 1974


By Bill DeMain

APRIL 18 - 24, 2002
www.nashscene.com/cgi-bin/printer.cgi?story=Back_Issues:2002:April_18-24_2002:News:Cover_Story
When Paul McCartney arrived at the Nashville Municipal Airport on the evening of June 6, 1974, there were only a few reporters and about 40 fans waiting. Hardly Beatlemania. Accompanied by his wife Linda, their three daughters, the members of Wings and the band's road manager, McCartney was here to rehearse for a world tour and take in some of the sights and sounds of our city. "I rather fancy the place," McCartney told a Nashville Banner reporter. "It's a musical center. I've just heard so much about it that I wanted to see for myself."


The low-key reception was no measure of McCartney's popularity. After all, "Band on the Run" had just nudged out "The Streak" to become the No. 1 song in the country, his fourth Top 10 single in less than a year. What kept the arrival from being a rock 'n' roll mob scene was some clandestine maneuvering by Buddy Killen, who was Macca's main man during his stay in Nashville. "I'm terribly protective of the artists I work with," Killen says today, "and I kept Paul's arrival very hush-hush."

A month before, the Tree Publishing honcho got a call from his lawyer, Lee Eastman, who was also McCartney's father-in-law. "What would you think about Paul coming to Nashville, and would you be his host?" Eastman asked.

Killen's first job was finding suitable digs for his guests. "They wanted a place in the country--a farm," he says. "But when you start calling farms and places like that where you want to rent something for seven weeks, they don't know who it is, but they know it's somebody big. One guy said, 'Yeah, I'll let you lease my farm for seven weeks for $200,000, and then I can pay it off.' I said, 'I'm sure you could.' "

Running out of options, Killen turned to one of his staff writers, Curly Putman. Best known for penning hits such as "The Green, Green Grass of Home" and later, with Bobby Braddock, "He Stopped Loving Her Today," Putman owned a 133-acre farm in Lebanon. Killen suggested that Curly and his wife use the money they'd get from renting it and take a vacation to Hawaii. The songwriter liked the idea.

Paul, Linda and the girls--Heather, 11; Stella, 4; and Mary, 2--moved into the main house. The band--Denny Laine, Jimmy McCulloch, Geoff Britton--and road manager Alan Crowder were put in a little farmhouse near the road. "It didn't work," Killen says. "Paul was having problems with the players. Finally, he moved all of them up into the main house, then he started getting more results."


After a week and a half of settling in and rehearsals, the McCartneys were ready to see some Nashville sights. Their first big day out would be a memorable one. It began with the Third Annual Grand Masters Fiddling Contest at Opryland.


Killen: "Instead of calling someone at Opryland and saying, 'I want to bring Paul McCartney and his entourage out,' I stupidly pulled up out there and bought tickets. Porter and Dolly were playing a set [during intermission]. We're walking toward the theater, and I look up and I see lips moving, forming the words 'Paul McCartney.' Then the crowd started moving in on us. Suddenly it's, 'I want your autograph.' Paul was very nice. He said 'OK,' and he'd sign them as we walked along. Now security starts moving in, and they get us to a roped-off area where Porter and Dolly are going to perform. I don't know what I was thinking. This was Paul McCartney. It just didn't dawn on me what an icon he was."

McCartney's expert handling of crowds during his stay really impressed Killen. "Paul said, 'When I was a Beatle, I found out that if you stay calm, you're OK. But if you bolt and run, they'll tear you apart.' "

The McCartneys' backstage visit with Wagoner and Parton probably helped lighten a somber mood, as the Opry's royal duo had just sung together for the last time. After niceties were exchanged and photos snapped, security guards snuck the band on the run out a back entrance.

They picked up a few buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken, then went to Killen's house. The month before, he'd had the place redecorated--white crushed velvet couches, new carpet, fresh paint. He tried to guide his guests out to the pool, but they never got that far. "In the den, they just started chowing down," he says. "Then Mary and Stella started jumping up and down on the couch like it was a trampoline. Paul and Linda were very lenient parents. The kids had gravy on their hands and faces, and every time they'd come down, there were fingerprints on the wall--just grease all over the place. So I said, 'Hey, how about if I drive you around and show you Nashville?' "

Everyone waited outside while Killen turned on the security system. "All of a sudden, 'Bam! Crash!' I hear glass shattering, and I hear a little girl crying and all this commotion. Linda comes running in, grabbing all the towels that she can get. I look out, and there's Stella, lying on the walkway, bleeding. She had forgotten her shoes inside, and she ran right through the glass and broke out the bottom half of the door. The top half slid down and gashed her arms and legs. We took her into emergency at the hospital out in Donelson. They fixed her up. But word gets out that Paul McCartney is at the hospital. All the doctors and nurses are peeking around doors and corners. Later on, I said, 'Paul, a couple dozen people died at the hospital that night.' He said, 'Why?' and I said, 'All the doctors were watching you.' "

Thankfully, the drama of that day was an exception. Visits to the homes of Johnny Cash and Chet Atkins went more smoothly, as did their breakfast jaunts to The Loveless Motel-- "They fell in love with that place and went back a bunch of times," says Killen--and late-night excursions to the area's drive-in movie theaters. McCartney told The Tennessean, "We've been to the drive-in a couple of times--that's about our level. We're very drive-in-type people." It's amusing to think of Paul at the old Bel-Air on Charlotte Pike or the Lebanon Road Drive-In on Donelson Pike, watching the fare of the day--Superfly TNT or a double feature of Young Nurses and Candy Stripe Nurses.

One night, Killen took the McCartneys to Printers Alley. "We had dinner at The Captain's Table," he says, "and then we went over to the Hugh X. Lewis nightclub and sat around. On the way home, in the car, they wrote 'Sally G.' "

There's an opposing story about the creation of this sunny, mid-tempo country song. The late David "Skull" Schulman, one of the Alley's colorful characters, claimed that a well-oiled McCartney wrote the song in his club The Rainbow Room, after hearing a few songs--particularly one called "A Tangled Mind"--by singer Diane Gaffney. Schulman said it was originally titled "Diane G."

Years later, McCartney said, "I didn't see anyone named Sally G. when I was in Printers Alley, nor did I see anyone who ran her eyes over me when she was singing 'A Tangled Mind.' That was my imagination, adding something to the reality of it."

"Sally G." would become the B-side to another new song McCartney wrote while here, the summertime rocker "Junior's Farm." Though the title was surely inspired by their temporary home--Curly Putman's nickname was "Junior"--the whimsical lyric, with references to Eskimos, sea lions and Ollie Hardy, gave no overt clues to anything local. It was what McCartney once described as "just a good flow of words."


With this creative burst, it seemed only natural that Paul would want to hustle the band into the nearest studio. Killen, who owned the Sound Shop, says, "He wasn't supposed to be recording, because he didn't have a green card. But it just worked out because I had that studio there. They weren't trying to break the law. They just did it."


Ernie Winfrey, who as head engineer at the Sound Shop had worked with Johnny Rivers, Joe Tex, Millie Jackson and others, recalls the thrill of recording a Beatle. "As a vocalist, he was a true artist. His instrument was so well-tuned it was amazing. Seeing him standing out there over the microphone, like you recall seeing him on The Ed Sullivan Show, I thought, 'Am I really sitting here doing this?'

"And his bass was absolutely one of the most even basses I've ever heard. I'm sure it's his playing technique and the way he had the bass set up, but every note was crystal clear. I didn't have to do anything to it at all. Straight into the console."

Winfrey also remembers Paul and Linda as very lovey-dovey. "They were just all over each other," he says with a smile. "They would come in to listen to a playback, and one would sit in the other's lap. I think Paul's attitude toward Linda showed a lot about him. He was willing to accept any criticism or derision that was handed out over him having her in the band. Based on my observations, he was very patient with her. But she was also a quick learner. He would sing her a harmony part, and she'd jump right on it."

The band was joined in the studio by Nashville session players Lloyd Green, Johnny Gimble, Bobby Thompson, the Cate Sisters and horn arranger Tony Dorsey, best known for his work with Joe Tex. (Dorsey would later become Wings' musical director.) Winfrey says, "Paul was very easygoing, and consequently, all the Nashville players who came in felt at ease. Everybody threw their ideas in."

The only hitch in the two weeks of recording was 19-year-old Wings lead guitarist McCulloch, who in Winfrey's estimation was a "great player, but a jerk of the first magnitude." McCulloch, who had a drug problem, stormed out of a few sessions, threw a Coke bottle at the control room window, and even got himself arrested for reckless driving late one night. Killen pulled some strings to get him out of jail, but the incident would almost prevent the band from returning to the States for the Wings Over America tour.

Songs cut at the Sound Shop were "Sally G.," "Junior's Farm," "Bridge Over the River Suite," "Hey Diddle," "Wide Prairie," "Send Me the Heart" (written by Laine) and "Walking in the Park With Eloise." This last one, a Dixieland-style instrumental, was written by Paul's father, Jim McCartney. Chet Atkins, when he heard the nostalgic tune, convinced Paul to record it as a gift to the elder McCartney, who was ailing at the time.

With guests Atkins, Floyd Cramer and Vassar Clements--and McCartney playing a washboard he'd bought at a Nashville flea market--Wings would release "Eloise" under the pseudonym The Country Hams.

In a 1984 Playboy interview, McCartney said, "I told my dad, 'You're going to get all the royalties. You wrote it and we're going to publish it for you and record it, so you'll get the checks. And he said, 'I didn't write it, son.' I thought, 'Oh God, what?' He said, 'I made it up, but I didn't write it.' He meant he couldn't notate; he couldn't actually write the tune down. And of course, that's like me. I can't write music. I just make 'em up too."

Of the songs that McCartney made up in Nashville, the sublime "Junior's Farm" became a No. 3 hit in November 1974. The single's B-side, "Sally G.," also skimmed into the upper reaches of the country charts, a first for the former Beatle.

On July 18, 1974, after six weeks in town, McCartney & Co. flew back to England. Drummer Geoff Britton left the band shortly after. Jimmy McCulloch left in '77, then died of an overdose in '79. Denny Laine would remain the only constant in the revolving door lineup of Wings over the next five years.

Though Killen and Winfrey have had only intermittent contact with their legendary guest in the years since--a few Christmas cards, the occasional phone call--they both have fond memories. "Paul was the most unassuming guy I've ever been around," Killen says. "You felt no star complex with him. He was just a regular guy who talked to you about regular things, and he was one of the nicest guys in the business I've ever met."

Winfrey says, "The whole experience was kind of like a fairy tale, a dream come true."

[I am the Paulrus]

Paul & Linda Try the Gentle Life

By JERRY BAILEY

July 18, 1974

www.degraff.net/7t71874.html


With a little imagination, it might have been a Southern gentleman sitting with his children ‘round his feet on the front porch of his plantation home.

In reality, however, it was former Beatle Paul McCartney, his wife, Linda, and a host of newsmen in a highly informal press conference.

McCartney, was right at home with his surroundings. "I’ve got a farm in Scotland," he informed his audience. "You’re not the only people who have farms, you know. Back in Scotland, we’re country people in our own way."

Though there was much speculation that McCartney had come to Nashville to record when his plane touched down nearly six weeks away, he made it clear yesterday that any recording was just incidental to the visit. Most of his stay was spent rehearsing with his group "Wings," jamming with Nashville Musicians and just enjoying the countryside.

HE FINALLY DID get around to putting something on tape a few days ago when Chet Atkins offered his services: "I was talking to Chet about it one night when we were over at his house socializing, and he said ‘Why don’t you do it?’ Then Chet brought along Floyd Cramer and some brass guys that he uses and then there was my drummer Geoff and me and Bobby Thompson, the banjo player."

The tune they had decided to record was "Eloise," written by McCartney’s father some 20 years ago. The elder McCartney about 70, is an amateur musician who claims he can’t write, but "thinks up" songs.

The song may be released as a single and included in an album called "Cold Cuts," McCartney said.

In addition, McCartney and his band worked with several other Nashville sidemen including Lloyd Greene, Vassar Clements and Johnny Gimble.

THE ENGLISH MUSICIAN incorporated the Music Row sidemen into another "country flavored" song called "Sally G" which he wrote after an inspiring visit to a country music club in Printer’s Alley.

The songs will be combined with more of McCartney’s material which he had previously found no use for. "We had a lot of tracks that were going to be wasted and just thrown away," he said. "But I thought there was some good stuff on them, so we just cleaned them up, and then I did the stuff here so we could make them up into a record."

"It probably won’t be on the next album. That’ll be a proper studio follow-up to "Band on the Run" (his current release). But it’ll probably be on the album after that, which we’re thinking of calling ‘Cold Cuts.’ Get it? ‘Cold Cuts.’"

He quickly quashed some rumors that the family had plans to settle in Nashville, or even the United States. "No, thank you," said McCartney. "I’m British to the core.

"We’re always being advised to move out of England because the taxes take 90% of everything you earn. But I’m British and Linda’s kind of honorary British. She makes a good cup o’ tea."

McCARTNEY’S WIFE is the former Linda Eastman, daughter of a prominent New York attorney. The father-in-law now handles McCartney’s financial affairs. Tree Publishing, a client of Lee Eastman’s assisted in details of McCartney’s visit to Nashville.

"Orginally we were not going to record here. We were going to rehearse and see if the new band members blended with a view of going on a tour, possibly to Australia. We came here because it is a musical surrounding. It’s not much good going into a desert. There’s nothing to spark you up."

Although McCartney said there had been no change in the membership of his band at present, several sources yesterday said guitarist Jimmy McColloch had run afoul of the law here and had been dismissed from the group. The wayward musician reportedly has been asked to leave the country. McCartney confirmed the trouble with police yesterday, without going into much detail. "I’d rather not bring that up here," said McCartney.

Nashville sources also said McCartney is dissatisfied with his band generally and will dismiss them to return for recording sessions with strictly Nashville musicans. McCartney’s manager, however, termed this report "rubbish."

He said he hoped to begin on an American tour next year. If it develops, there are definate plans for a Nashville concert. "We couldn’t skip Nashville," said McCartney. "We have too many friends here."

McCartney said he had made several promises to write songs for several Nashville musicans though he has doubts about keeping them. "The trouble is that since I’ve been here I promised a lot of people I would write songs for them. It’s amazing the people who want songs — like Johnny Cash and Charlie Rich. You’d think they’d have plenty of good material. But they all tell us that they don’t have enough good songs."

The McCartney’s vistied the homes of Chet Atkins, and Johnny Cash. Also, they visited the old and new Grand Ole Opry Houses, several Nashville resteraunts, Printers’ Alley music clubs and several drive-in movies.

"We’ve been to the drive-in a couple of times," McCartney said with a grin. "That’s about our level. We’re very drive-in-type people."

Both Paul and Linda were dressed casually for the press conference. While reporters arriveing on time were detained at the front gate of the residence, the couple had buzzed past, smiling and waving on a newly purchased motor cycle.

When the newsmen reached the house, McCartney looked the part of a relaxing musician with bare feet, faded blue jeans and a loose fitting satin shirt. Linda wore a blue skirt and a checkered shirt with home embroidery on the shoulders.

The family’s younger members, three girls, were asked to remain inside during the interview though they slipped outside to play in the yard toward the end. Mrs. McCartney said the children had most enjoyed the Nashville sunshine.

"They’re always running around naked streaking,’ she laughed. Her husband interupted, "Remember that night they went over to Johnny Cash’s house? Heather (their 11 year old daughter) was playing with Johnny’s son and some animals in the barn.

When Heather came back with us, she was talking Southern." He mocked a drawl. "Those chickens are really beautifull."

The Putnam farm, which was rented for $2,000 per week while the owners vacationed, is located on the road between Lebanon and Gladeville.

The family’s plans are to return to New York, maybe today, where they will stay for a few days before returning to London and their Scotland farm. Yesterday evening, however, McCartney’s manager wsa trying to locate a camper for Paul and Linda to travel about in.

McCartney said his immediate plans include "releasing another album sometime soon. Beyond that, I don’t know. I could, for all I know, write the great rock ‘n roll epic. And then I could do nothing."
Former Beatle Paul mcCartney and his wife, Linda, their three daughters (Heather, Mary and Stella) and his Wings band were scheduled to leave Nashville this mid-afternoon for New York after spending six weeks in this area.

They will be en route to their home in England.

The British singer-writer, his family and his musicians lived on a farm they had rented near Lebanon during their stay.

"We love it," said Mrs. McCartney. "The girls got suntans; I did some shopping at the Nashville stores and we enjoyed visiting places and meeting nice people."

McCartney did some songwriting and the band rehearsed.

McCartney and his wife boasted an interview Wednesday afternoon on the front porch of the mansion-like house for reporters from newspapers, wire services and several radio stations. Sorry, no TV.

McCARTNEY SAID, among other things, that he was impressed not only with Nashville, but its musicians and the studio (Soundshop) where he worked.

"I came here," he said, "because Nashville is a music center. I looked forward to the visit and I am not disappointed."

He cut tracks for some singles and "possibly an album."

Nashville musicians who worked on the sessions included Chet Atkins, Loyd Green, Vassar Clements, Johnny Gimble and the Cate Sisters (Marcy and Margie), who are featured with Jim Ed Brown’s band.

However, he did not record any songs written or published by Nashville people.

"I WRITE MY OWN SONGS," he emphasized.

He said that he had bought a motorcycle "and had fun riding it."

A security guard remarked: "The next headlines he (McCartney) makes will be about a motorcycle wreck. He doesn’t know how to drive that thing.

The McCartneys were patient and cordial during the interview in the 90-degree weather. It was hot and one reporter commented, "Reckon why they didn’t invite us into the air-conditioned house or serve us a cold drink or two…at least Kool-Ade?"

Newspaper people are so accustomed to luxury they are not at ease in austerity.

McCartney said he hoped to return to Nashville "sometime in the near future."

As for the present, he’ll head to his farm in Scotland, where one of his aides said: "He may do something about, or with the Wings band."


Former Beatle Paul McCartney takes his wife, Linda, for a spiff around the lawn of the home of songwriter Curly Putman, where the McCartneys have been living during their visit to Nashville.


Linda expressed confidence in her husband's newly acquired cycling skills.


McCartney strums a guitar given him by a Tennessee fan.


Heather, eldest of the McCartney children, joins her parents around the family Honda.


Paul poses for Linda's camera on the lawn of the Putnam farm, which sits high on a hill overlooking pastureland.


Former Beatle Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, take a spin on the motorcycle he bought here. The McCartneys have been living...and working at music...in this area for the past six weeks. The departed this afternoon for New York and their home in Scotland.

[I am the Paulrus]

Walking in the Park With Eloise" EMI 3977 Dec. 2, 1974

Two more of the Nashville songs were instrumentals--the a-side having been written by Paul's father, James. The single was more of a tribute to Paul's dad than a serious release, and the artist was shown as "The Country Hams" on the record and sleeve, with no indication that McCartney had anything to do with it. The single failed to chart. This was Paul's first single away from Apple, and he would never issue a solo single on Apple again.

[Emma]

LET IT BEATLE HAS MOVED.

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