The steel guitar of Don Helms is an essential element of more than 100 recordings by Hank Williams, including the country landmarks "Your Cheatin' Heart," "Cold, Cold Heart," and "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)." Following Williams' death, the guitarist also lent his signature sound to myriad Nashville classics including Patsy Cline's "Walking After Midnight," Ernest Tubb's "Letters Have No Arms," Loretta Lynn's "Success," and Stonewall Jackson's "Waterloo." Born in New Brockton, AB on February 28, 1927, Helms acquired his first Silvertone lap steel and amplifier at age 15 in emulation of his boyhood idol Leon McAuliffe, of Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys fame. At 17 he joined fledgling singer/songwriter Williams and his band the Drifting Cowboys, touring clubs and private parties across central and southern Alabama. In 1945, Helms joined the military, but upon returning to civilian life two years later he rejoined Williams, who in the interim signed on with publishing firm Acuff-Rose and landed a record deal with MGM. This incarnation of the Drifting Cowboys -- also featuring guitarist Bob McNett, bassist Hillous Butrum and fiddler Jerry Rivers -- proved its definitive lineup, backing Williams on radio's Louisiana Hayride as well as early hits like "Lovesick Blues" and "Wedding Bells." At the time Helms joined Williams, he was playing a Fender eight-string, double-neck steel guitar, but in 1950 he acquired a Gibson Console Grande (also an eight-string double neck), which he connected to a 1949 Fender Pro amp to forge the rich, resonant sound so essential to Williams' genre-defining honky tonk approach.