The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello: I was fortunate enough to receive as a Christmas present..the complete "Mother's Best radio shows that Hank Williams did in 1951. I've actually heard most of these shows before..and something has always nagged at me! Granted: I haven't read the book that comes with the box set, so it may bare me out..but I'm pretty sure that there's one show that was done where Don Helms wasn't on! It's the one where Hank first performs "I Can't Help It"..while I don't claim to be any kind of an expert on identifying steelers, I pretty much know what Don Helms' style was (he never played much of what some refer to as the "ting-a-ling" style of steeling (you can hear shades of that style on this particular show)..to me, it just doesn't sound like Helms! Whoever was playing steel on that particular program did a version of Pan Handle Rag..if that's any help to you; Jerry Rivers saws a little bit of "Bill Cheatham; my ear may be telling me wrong! I have the utmoast respect for Don Helms! But somehow I just don't believe it's him who played on that particular show! Has anyone else who has heard these shows noticed the same thing?

If you choose to believe the Internet, it's Don:

http://hankwilliamsmothersbest.com/Moth ... isting.pdf

scroll down to the end of disc 7. Show 35.

Well..on the cover of the CD which contains that show, they even list it as "Don Helms"..but my ear tells me differently! I suspect that what happened is this: the folks who put this set together, by virtue of the fact that it was known that Don was a member of the Drifting Cowboys band..naturally assumed that Don was working that day! I remember back in the 80s, when I first heard of these shows..thanks to Kyle Cantrell..he even commented once that it sounded like a different steeler playing on that recording of "I Can't Help It!"

Here --> (Click) is
the song in question.

~Russ

(edited to load
the proper track
that Tom refers to)

Russ: That's a different show than the one I'm speaking of; the show in question is on disk 7, tracks 22-27. The first song (following the introduction)..is "I Can't Help It, followed by Panhandle Rag; then "Gathering Flowers For the Master's Bouquet; Jerry Rivers finishes it out with Bill Chatham. As mentioned earlier, if you look on the back of the CD's cover where the title listings are, id does list Don Helms as the steeler on Panhandle Rag..but my ear tells me different! My main thing here is: I'd like to know who it was playing steel on this particular show as it just doesn't sound like Don's playing to me; listen to this show; then listen to all the other shows in this package and..I think you'll hear the difference!

James Porter from Montgomery Al. and I have played together at Pee Wee's glass shop several times, he Played some with Hank W. could be him. He passed away .

ernie

That's a different show than the one I'm speaking of

Tom,
Sorry for my carelessness - I've had these shows on
my hard-drive for several years, before they were
commercially available, and when looking for the one
in question, I hadn't thought that the two songs 'I
Can't Help It' and 'Panhandle Rag' would show up in
sequence more than once, and I went with the first
one that showed up!
Anyhow, I've edited my previous post and link
above, and 're-post' the link here --> Click
~Russ