Robby Turner, the steel guitar legend who performed with country music artists ranging from Waylon Jennings to Sturgill Simpson, has died.
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Turner’s son, Bobby, confirmed his death to the Nashville newspaper The Tennessean on Sept. 5. No cause of death was disclosed. Turner was 63.
Turner, often called the “Man of Steel,” contributed to projects like the 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws, featuring Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser. The album included the Jennings/Nelson hit “Good Hearted Woman” and became the first country album to be certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to Billboard.
Turner toured and recorded with country supergroup The Highwaymen (Jennings, Nelson, Kristofferson, and Cash), playing on their albums The Highwayman 2 (1990) and The Road Goes On Forever (1995). He also worked on several of Jennings’ albums and was his main steel guitar player until Jennings’ passing in 2002.
Robby Turner made the pedal steel cry like no one else in Nashville. His death is a tremendous loss, he didn't just play the steel guitar, he felt and you could see that every time he played. pic.twitter.com/JbDUnLkocJ
— Scroll Sandwich (@ScrollSandwich)
“So sad to hear about Robby Turner,” Jennings’ son, Shooter, wrote on X, “A once in a lifetime talent and the funniest guy I ever met. What a player. Was lucky to have toured and recorded with him many times. Rest in Peace, Robby.”
Robby Turner Also Worked with Country Legends Like Loretta Lynn, John Prine, and Marty Stuart
Turner also contributed to albums by Tanya Tucker, Randy Travis, John Prine, Marty Stuart, Loretta Lynn, Travis Tritt, and The Oak Ridge Boys. More recently, he worked on projects for Chris Stapleton and Sturgill Simpson. He played on Stapleton’s CMA Awards Album of the Year-winning projects Traveller and From A Room: Volume 1. He also contributed to Simpson’s High Top Mountain.
Meanwhile, Turner grew up immersed in music, as his parents, Doyle and Bernice Turner, performed with Hank Williams Sr.’s Drifting Cowboys from 1946 to 1948. At 11, Turner worked three nights a week at a Paragould, Arkansas honky-tonk to save for a steel guitar. By 12, Shot Jackson of Sho-Bud sponsored him with his own rig, making Turner the youngest player ever endorsed by the company.
Turner also released his own projects, including Man of Steel (1996) and Steel Country (1998).
In 2019, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum honored Turner as part of its Nashville Cats series.