Keeping the Band’s Vibe Alive
Artimus Pyle has led the kind of life you dream of if you lived in a Jerry Bruckheimer film. He survived three plane crashes, one that made worldwide news. His own father died in a plane crash. He piloted aircraft for the Marines.
But to earn his daily bread, Pyle, of Morgantown, North Carolina, played the drums, a gig that included more than six years in the iconic Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd. In 2006, he and bandmates accepted induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
For the past 16 years, he’s drummed for the Artimus Pyle Band, his Skynyrd tribute band. The seven-piece group stops at Levoy Theatre in Millville on Friday, August 22. Their concert reproduces note for note, a catalog of Skynyrd songs.
It’s the Skynyrd connection that fueled the global newsfeed.
On October 20, 1977, during a flight from Greenville, South Carolina, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the private tour plane crashed in a heavily wooded area of southwestern Mississippi during a failed emergency landing attempt. The accident killed lead singer and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, band members Steve Gaines and Cassie Gaines as well as the band’s assistant road manager and the plane’s pilot and co-pilot, according to an article in History.com.
Pyle survived, but not without scars, physical and emotional.
The original core of Lynyrd Skynyrd—Ronnie Van Zant, Bob Burns, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, and Larry Junstrom—first got together in 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida. Like many bands, there are changes along the way and one involved Pyle.
He met with Ronnie at a studio in Georgia for the recording of “Saturday Night Special,” which left a positive note on Skynyrd’s front man. Pyle’s live debut with the band occurred for a food bank fundraiser in Jacksonville’s Sgt. Pepper’s Club in October 1974.
When current drummer Bob Burns left the band after Skynyrd’s first European tour in December of that year, Pyle was tapped as his replacement. His first stint ended with the plane crash and the decade-long hiatus that followed. When Skynyrd reformed in 1987, Pyle played with the band until 1991.
While the Artimus Pyle Band goes back years as a Pyle project, the current lineup dates back 16 years. The band coming to Millville includes Pyle on drums, of course, Scott Raines and Jerry Lyda on guitars, Barry Lee Harwood on vocals and multiple instruments, Shannon Wickline on keyboards, John Jump on bass and former American Idol runner-up Bo Bice as front man.
For Pyle his band is a tribute as much to the man at the helm as the band itself. ”If it wasn’t for Ronnie, no one would know my name,” Pyle says.
Pyle was hooked on the drums early on as a young teen. But ever since he could remember, rhythm was part of his psyche, starting with banging on pots and pans in the kitchen. He has heard rhythms everywhere, in the horses he rode, the bulldozers he drove for work. “I was a natural drummer.”
“My dad bought me drums. I would jam with my high school buddies. We played ‘When the Saints go Marching In,’ songs like that.” Pyle says he absorbed not only his own generation’s music, from the Beatles to the Four Seasons, but his father’s generation, from Les Paul and Mary Ford to Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. “I loved the Beatles sound early on,” Pyle says.
After a stint in the Marines in the late 1960s, Pyle earned an honorable discharge. While in the service, he bought a set of drums from a captain.
The Artimus Pyle Band members have no intention of slowing down. Pyle bought a refurbished touring bus—he doesn’t care much for flying these days. “We have a professional driver, and our guitar player can take over if needed.”
Since the last of the original five Skynyrd members—Gary Rossington—passed away in 2023, the Pyle Band has taken on more significance in keeping the band’s sound alive: “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Free Bird,” “Call Me Mr. Breeze.”
For Pyle, his band’s performances are poignant. “I get emotional. But I can’t take time to weep. Gotta get hold of myself.”
Pyle, who is neither a singer nor a songwriter, did record a solo album, Artemus Venomous, amid several he did with his band, including Anthems, an album of duets. Dolly Parton and original member Gary Rossington combined for “Free Bird” with the Pyle Band. And the band will head back to the studio.
“Music saved my life,” Pyle says. “Everyone dies. But you just go on. When I can’t play anymore, I’ll hang it up.”
IF YOU GO:
• The Artimus Pyle Band Honoring Ronnie Van Zant’s Lynyrd Skynyrd performs at Levoy Theatre on August 22. Six Gunn Sally opens.
• Showtime: 8 p.m.
• Tickets: $42-$49 plus fees. Tickets are available at Levoy.net or at the box office: 126–130 N. High St., Millville.
• For more information: levoy.net, [email protected], or 856-327-6400.
• Website: artimuspyleband.com
