Tom had been battling stomach cancer for five years, and was diagnosed with terminal metastatic cancer in October of this year.
But cancer wasn't the cause of death.

Tom actually died in his sleep of a heart attack on the band's tour bus before his first performance of Grammy-winning bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs' Christmas tour.

Local coroner Kandy Kelley says:

"Tom was sleeping on the bus. The other band members had gone in to get the motel rooms. Then they went to wake him up."

Born in St. Louis, Roady got his first break working as a studio recording session cat at the famed Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Since then he has played with a vast roster of legendary artists, including Aretha Franklin, Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, Dixie Chicks, Emmylou Harris, James Taylor, Kenny Rogers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Paul Simon.