Don Helms was a member of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys, which must have been fulfilling and frustrating at the same time. As steel guitarist, he was able to put his signature on some of country music’s most-renown songs but he had a boss whose battles with drugs and alcohol made the lives of all around him difficult, and who played himself off the stage at age 29. Helms continued to work, adding steel guitar to the music of Johnny Cash, the Wilburn Brothers and Lefty Frizzell, among others.

Don Helms was 81, and lived long enough to have a Myspace page. RIP Mr. Helms.