Donald Hugh Helms

1927 - 2008

Donald Hugh Helms, 81, of Hendersonville, Tenn. died on Aug. 11. He was born February 28, 1927 in New Brockton, Ala.
Helms served in the U.S. Army, and had a major part in the country music business: as a musician, music publisher, songwriter, and booking agent. He is one of the founding members of R.O.P.E. (Reunion of Professional Entertainers), a proud Mason and Shriner, a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame, and recipient of numerous additional awards and honors.
He was the last surviving member of Hank Williams Sr.'s Drifting Cowboys band and in 2005 he published his memoirs entitled Settin' the Woods on Fire (Confession of Hank's Steel Guitar Player).
Don's signature steel guitar sound can be heard on over 100 Hank Williams songs, including nearly all of Hank's greatest hits, as well as on Patsy Cline's Walkin' After Midnight, Bobby Helms' Fraulein and You Are My Special Angel, Release Me and I've Got A New Heartache by Ray Price, Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' and Blue Kentucky Girl by Loretta Lynn, hits by Wanda Jackson, Red Sovine, Hank Locklin, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, Jean Shepard, the Wilburn Brothers, Lefty Frizzell, Cowboy Copas, Ferlin Husky, Hank Williams Jr., Sonny James, Jerry Reed, the Louvin Brothers, and many more.
After Hank Williams' death in 1953, Don played steel guitar on the road and in the recording studio for Ray Price, Ferlin Husky, the Wilburn Brothers, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams Jr., and Jett Williams. In 1977 Hank Williams' Drifting Cowboys band, Don Helms, Jerry Rivers, Hillous Butrum, and Bob McNett, reunited after 25 years apart, recorded albums, and played Hank Williams music around the country and the world.
His parents, James Earlie and Edna Helms, preceded him in death.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Hazel Ouida Cullifer Helms; sons, Donald Franklin Helms of Stuart and Timothy Marc Helms and wife, Sharon, of Cottontown, Tenn.; brothers and sisters-in-law, Glenn and Dot Helms of Conyers, Ga., and Ted and Mickey Helms of Atlanta, Ga.; A sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Martha and Chris Howell of Bonifay; three grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, friend and fans.
Services were held on Thursday, Aug. 14, at Forest Lawn Funeral Home in Goodlettsville, Tenn.
Interment followed in the Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery.