Clem Myers

Clem Myers (1922-1988) was a Vermont old time fiddler and co-founder and president of the Northeast Fiddlers' Association until 1972. Born in Burlington, Myers began his musical career in 1934 - joining the Dusty Miller Band (later known as Dusty Miller & His Colorado Wranglers) where he was known as "Flash Gordon". He toured with the band throughout the Northeast until World War II when he was drafted into the Air Force. After the war, he married Ginny Machia in 1946 and started a sandblasting business in Barre. With two children (Sandra and Donna Myers) and a business to run, Myers quit performing for nearly two decades until he and his wife fortuitously attended a 1964 old time fiddling concert in Plainfield put on by Goddard College's music professor, Ray McIntyre. So taken with the concert was Myers that he immediately joined together with his friend Bob Slora (of Barre) and Bob Clarke (then a Goddard student) to form a monthly fiddle club to promote, support, and preserve old time fiddle music in Vermont. Traveling around the region to recruit fiddlers by word of mouth, Myers was able to co-found the Northeast Fiddlers' Association (NEFA) a year later in 1965. Myers was elected to serve as NEFA President. He would spend the next two decades performing old time fiddling.