Artimus Pyle

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Thomas Delmer "Artimus" Pyle (born July 15, 1948) is an American musician who performed drums with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977, as well as 1991 to 1991.

In 2006, he and his Lynyrd Skynyrd bandmates were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Pyle lives in Asheville, North Carolina. He has three sons, two daughters, two grandchildren, and has been married twice. He likes cars, motorbikes, horses, and watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle. He is also a vegetarian.

Pyle was charged in 1993 with attempted capital sexual battery and lewd assault on two girls. He denied the charges, alleging that the girls were abused by people connected to babysitters in a Jacksonville mobile home park who had a grudge against him. In addition, he said the allegations were a plot to extort funds from the Lynyrd Skynyrd group. Pyle pleaded no contest rather than face a mandatory prison term if found guilty in a jury trial weeks before the trial was set to begin in January 1994. He was sentenced to probation and then had to register as a sex offender. After police misloned the change-of-address form he had sent him when he and his family migrated to North Carolina in 2007, Pyle was charged with failure to register as a sex offender in St. Johns County, Florida. He turned down a plea bargain bargain pact and was found not guilty by a jury in 2009.

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Early life and career

Pyle was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of homemaker Mildred "Midge" Pyle (1921–1971) and Clarence "Del" Pyle (1921–1971), a building superintendent who was awarded a Purple Heart after being shot in the leg while serving with the US Marines in the South Pacific during World War II.

In 1968, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. Following the completion of boot camp in San Diego, he was named platoon and series hero and advanced to private first class. Pyle, who was interested in civil aviation, served as an avionics mechanic at several military bases, including Millington, Tennessee, and Beaufort, South Carolina, eventually rising to the rank of sergeant. In 1971, he was honorably discharged.

Pyle joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1974 after being involved with Thickwood Lick in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He appeared alongside, then replaced, original drummer Bob Burns, who was first on stage. He made his recording debut in August of that year on "Saturday Night Special," the band's first single from their third album, Nuthin' Fancy. Pyle spent time on the films Nuthin' Fancy, One More From the Road, Street Survivors, Legend, Southern by the Grace of God and Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991.

He survived the 1977 plane crash that killed Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, while backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant Road Manager Dean Kilpatrick, and the two pilots. Pyle had torn chest cartilage, but he was able to stumble several hundred yards to a farmhouse to ask for assistance. Johnny Mote, a 21-year-old farmer who mistook him for an escaped prison sentence and fired a warning shot at Pyle's head, was harmed by Pyle's appearance. Pyle would later joke that he was struck in the shoulder, but his other accounts contradict this. When interviewed at the crash scene for VH1's 2002 documentary The Uncivil War by Pyle, Mote debunks the suspicion of Pyle being shot. Mote realized the situation when Pyle yelled that there had been a plane crash, led Pyle inside his house, and was part of the initial rescue team. Local rescuers, who had just completed a Civil Defense drill, converged on the scene and Pyle led them to the crash site, where the dead and injured were found.

The remaining members of Lynyrd Skynyrd's fifth annual Volunteer Jam concert in Nashville on January 13, 1979. They performed "Free Bird" in a somewhat improvised way. Leon Wilkeson, a bassist, watched from the wings because he was too young to play.

Pyle spent three years in Jerusalem, studying at the Diaspora Yeshiva. The yeshiva was known for attracting spiritual seekers from hippie and counterculture movements, whether they were Jewish or not. Many of the students were either professional or semi-professional musicians. Pyle performed with the Diaspora Yeshiva Band at informal gatherings and formed Remez with fellow student Rabbi Karmi Ingber. As he departed, he donated his drum kit to the yeshiva. On a 2007 solo record, Pyle reflected on these years in his song "I Live in Jerusalem." Pyle was asked why he went to Israel for three years, to which he replied, "I was trying to become a human being."

Pyle and several other musicians on their album Contraband appeared alongside Alias, a short-lived band. Dorman Cogburn, a childhood friend of Lynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington, guitarist Jimmy Dougherty; guitarist Jimmy Dougherty, who went on to perform on the Allen Collins Band's solo album; and former Skynyrd backing vocalist JoJo Billingsley were among the group's members. These friendships lead to the formation of the Rossington Collins Band, with all the survivors, plus Dale Krantz on lead vocals, and Barry Lee Harwood on guitar. Following a collision involving a alcoholic driver, Pyle was forced to leave after breaking his leg in 21 places. Derek Hess replaced Pyle. Pyle, a 1982 member of the Artimus Pyle Band, began recording and touring with the Artimus Pyle Band (A.P.B. Darryl Otis Smith, John Boerstler, Steve Brewington, Steve Brewington, and Steve Lockhart were among the participants. A.P.B. (broaden) explains the difference. A.P.B.'s albums include A.P.B. (1981) Nightcaller (1983) and Live from Planet Earth (2000).

Pyle appeared on the Skynyrd Tribute Tour and joined the reunited Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1991, before he left the band during a show in Toronto on August 2, 1991. "I left the band in 1991 mainly because of a heroin and alcohol crisis, and I felt like we should have left all the stuff behind us years and years ago," Pyle said in a radio interview with Rick Lewis and Michael Floorwax on The FOX in Denver, Colorado. Following Pyle's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, the band and his predecessor, Bob Burns, appeared with the new version of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Pyle declined to attend a 2018 Lynyrd Farewell Tour, but he is still a working musician and continues to tour with The Artimus Pyle Band. After a legal controversy surrounding a 2017 injunction attempting to stop production, he premiered in 2020.

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