Don Helms

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Don Helms | image = | caption = Don Helms playing a table-style steel guitar in 1961 | image_size = | birth_name = Donald Hugh Helms | birth_date = {{birth date|1927|02|28}} | birth_place = [[New Brockton, Alabama]] | death_date = {{death date and age|2008|08|11|1927|02|28}} | death_place = [[Nashville, Tennessee]] | genre = [[Country music|Country]], [[honky tonk music|honky-tonk]] | occupation = Musician | years_active = 1942–2008 | associated_acts = [[Drifting Cowboys]], [[Hank Williams Jr.]] | website = [https://www.myspace.com/donhelmsshag Don Helms official Myspace] }}

'''Donald Hugh Helms'''<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/arts/music/17helms.html|title=Don Helms, 81, who put the Twang in the Hank Williams songbook, is dead|work=The New York Times |date=August 17, 2008 |last1=Grimes |first1=William }}</ref> (February 28, 1927 – August 11, 2008) was an American musician who was the [[steel guitar]] player of [[Hank Williams]]'s [[Drifting Cowboys]] group.<ref name="yah1">{{cite news |url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080813/en_nm/helms_dc_5 |work=Yahoo! News |title= Steel guitarist Don Helms dies in Nashville |date=August 13, 2008}}</ref> He was a member of the [[Steel Guitar Hall of Fame]] (1984).<ref name="scottsghof">{{cite web |last1=Scott |first1=DeWitt |title=The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame/ |url=http://www.scottysmusic.com/hofplq.htm |website=scottysmusic.com |publisher=The Steel Guitar Hall of Fame |access-date=May 6, 2021}}</ref>

==Biography== Helms was a featured musician on a vast number of Hank Williams recordings and provided the high, piercing signature steel guitar sound on more than 100 of Hank's songs and on 10 of his 11 number-one country hits.<ref name="NYT2008">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/17/arts/music/17helms.html |work=The New York Times |title= Don Helms, 81, Who Put the Twang in the Hank Williams Songbook, Is Dead |date=August 16, 2008 | first=William | last=Grimes | access-date=May 1, 2010}}</ref>

Bill Lloyd, the curator of stringed instruments at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said of Helms: "After the great tunes and Hank's mournful voice, the next thing you think about in those songs is the steel guitar. It is the quintessential honky-tonk steel sound — tuneful, aggressive, full of attitude." Lloyd also credits Helms's sound as a major influence in shifting the sound of country music away from the hillbilly string-band sound popular in the 1930s and toward the more modern electric style that became prominent in the 1940s.<ref name="NYT2008"/>

Helms played a double-neck 1948 Gibson Console Grande steel guitar, which lacked the foot pedals found on a more modern [[pedal steel guitar]], which did not come into prominence in country music until after Hank Williams's death in 1953. He tuned the outside neck to A C# E G# B C# E G# (low to high), which he called E6, and the inside neck to F# A B D# F# A C# E, which he called B13. Almost all of Don's classic leads were done on the E6 neck. He used the B13 neck for fills.

After Williams's death, Helms went on to play on many classic country hits, including [[Patsy Cline]]'s "[[Walkin' After Midnight]]", [[Stonewall Jackson (musician)|Stonewall Jackson]]'s "[[Waterloo (Stonewall Jackson song)|Waterloo]]", the [[Louvin Brothers]]' "[[Cash on the Barrelhead]]", [[Lefty Frizzell]]'s "[[Long Black Veil]]", and [[Loretta Lynn]]'s "[[Blue Kentucky Girl (song)|Blue Kentucky Girl]]."<ref name="NYT2008"/>

Donald Hugh Helms was born in [[New Brockton, Alabama|New Brockton]], Alabama, and performed with many [[country music]] artists throughout the years, including playing steel guitar on Lefty Frizzell's recording of "Long Black Veil". In the late 1950s, Don played on several early [[Johnny Cash]] recordings on [[Columbia Records]], ''[[The Fabulous Johnny Cash]]'', ''[[Now, There Was a Song!]]'' and ''[[Hymns by Johnny Cash]]''. During the mid-1960s, Helms played in the [[Wilburn Brothers]] backup band, the Nashville Tennesseans. He later played behind Hank Williams's daughter [[Jett Williams]].

Helms also played for [[Hank Williams Jr.]] and wrote "The Ballad of Hank Williams", which he performed with Hank Jr. on ''[[The Pressure Is On]]'' LP released in 1981. In the song, Don jokingly refers to being fired by both Hank Sr. and Hank Jr. He also performed with Jett Williams, Hank Sr.'s daughter, and with David Church, a Hank Williams tribute artist.

His last four known sessions were (in order) with Mark David and the Nightly Lights on November 15, 2007, Joey Allcorn's album ''All Alone Again''[http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/joeyallcorn1] in early 2008, followed by sessions with Teresa Street, and then what is believed to be his final session, with [[Vince Gill]] recording unfinished Hank Williams Sr. tracks.

==Death== Helms died on August 11, 2008, in Nashville, Tennessee, from complications of heart surgery and [[diabetes]].

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://www.myspace.com/donhelmsshag Don Helms official Myspace page]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helms, Don}} [[Category:Steel guitarists]] [[Category:American country guitarists]] [[Category:American male guitarists]] [[Category:People from New Brockton, Alabama]] [[Category:Smash Records artists]] [[Category:1927 births]] [[Category:2008 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century American guitarists]] [[Category:Country musicians from Alabama]] [[Category:20th-century American male musicians]] [[Category:Drifting Cowboys members]]