Robby Turner, the pedal steel guitarist whose soulful mastery of the instrument is embedded in stardom-redefining songs for Waylon Jennings, Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton, has died. He was 63.

The profiles all begin the same way: Sturgill Simpson is here to save country music. Since the release of his brilliant and mystifying second solo album, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, in May, ...