Famous Louisvillians: Artimus Pyle (#2)

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And now, for today’s penultimate famous Louisville native, enough geography to make your head spin. This may well be the most shocking member of the “Famous Louisvillians” club featured in this countdown. Get out your road maps, ‘cause here we go! #2: Artimus Pyle Turn it up! Here you have a band from Jacksonville, Florida....with a drummer from Louisville, Kentucky....calling Alabama their “sweet home”!!! Yeah, you need a road map for that! Sheesh, Pyle didn’t have to join a rock and roll band to go all over the world! . Born here, Pyle’s family moved to Ohio, where he graduated from high school. Then he went to Tennessee Tech, then joined the Marines because he just hadn’t moved enough at that point in his life. Pyle joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1974, first appearing on their third album Nuthin’ Fancy. He continued as their drummer until the tragic plane crash in October, 1977, which killed three members of the band. Pyle, injured, managed to walk to the nearest home to get help. (True to the band’s last album’s name, Pyle really was a “street survivor,” having survived both the plane crash and a 1979 car wreck that broke his leg in 21 places.) When Skynyrd reunited Pyle was on board; however, Pyle left Skynyrd for good in 1991. He was unhappy with the same drug/alcohol-fueled problems in the band that had plagued it before the plane crash. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina now, and has his own band, the APB (Artimus Pyle Band). Not bad for a Louisville boy. Artimus Pyle Born Thomas Delmer Pyle July 15, 1948 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame drummer for Lynyrd Skynyrd Here’s “that song” yet again!