1. Thomas Delmer "Artimus" Pyle was born on July 15,1948 and is an American musician who played drums with the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1974 to 1977 and from 1987 to 1991.
29 Facts About Artimus Pyle
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Artimus Pyle enlisted in the US Marine Corps in 1968.
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Artimus Pyle was named platoon and series honorman and promoted to private first class following completion of boot camp in San Diego.
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Eyeing a career in civil aviation, Artimus Pyle worked as an avionics mechanic at various military bases, including Millington, Tennessee, and Beaufort, South Carolina, ultimately rising to the rank of sergeant.
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Artimus Pyle initially played alongside, and then replaced, original drummer Bob Burns.
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Artimus Pyle survived the 1977 plane crash that killed lead vocalist and songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, backing vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant Road Manager Dean Kilpatrick, and the two pilots.
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Artimus Pyle suffered torn chest cartilage but managed to stumble several hundred yards through a creek and a field to a farmhouse to get help.
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The appearance of Artimus Pyle alarmed the 21-year-old farmer Johnny Mote, who mistook him for an escaped convict and fired a warning shot over Artimus Pyle's head.
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Mote refutes the claim of Artimus Pyle being shot, when interviewed at the crash scene for VH1's 2002 documentary Lynyrd Skynyrd's Uncivil War.
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Mote realized the situation when Artimus Pyle shouted that there had been a plane crash, helped Artimus Pyle inside his house and was part of the initial rescue party.
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About the same time local rescuers, who had just completed a Civil Defense drill, converged on the scene and Artimus Pyle directed them to the crash site where the dead and the injured were located.
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Artimus Pyle played with the house band, the Diaspora Yeshiva Band, during informal gatherings, and formed a band called Remez with fellow student Rabbi Karmi Ingber.
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Artimus Pyle reflected on these years in the song "I Live in Jerusalem" on a 2007 solo album.
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Artimus Pyle was forced to drop out after breaking his leg in 21 places following a collision with a drunk driver.
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Artimus Pyle took part in the Skynyrd Tribute tour and joined the reformed Lynyrd Skynyrd in recording Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991 before departing the band during a show in Toronto on August 2,1991.
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Artimus Pyle wrote the film Street Survivors: The True Story of the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane Crash which premiered in 2020, after a legal dispute which included a 2017 injunction attempting to stop production.
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Artimus Pyle learned his craft by listening to the radio and copying drummers such as Ringo Starr, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, and Joe Morello of the Dave Brubeck Quartet.
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Artimus Pyle received his first set of drums when he was approximately the age of 12, a red sparkle Slingerland kit consisting of one bass drum, one rack tom, one floor tom, and a snare drum.
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Artimus Pyle specified no resonant heads on the bottom for better microphone placement, although it made drum-tuning more of a challenge.
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Artimus Pyle plays in several bands in the Asheville, North Carolina, area.
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In 2004, Artimus Pyle recorded four studio tracks on Southern Rock band Rambler's album First Things First with vocalist Pat Terranova, guitarist Mitch Farber, bassist Willy Lussier and acoustic guitarist and vocalist Rikki Cuccia.
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In 2005, Artimus Pyle joined The Saturday Night Special Band, a hybrid Lynyrd Skynyrd group with 4 original members of Lynyrd Skynyrd including, Ed King, JoJo Billingsley and Leslie Hawkins.
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In 2014, Artimus Pyle was a guest performer on Eli Cook's album, Primitive Son.
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In June 2017, Artimus Pyle was sued by Ronnie Van Zant's widow, Judy Van Zant, Gary Rossington, current Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant, and the representatives and heirs of Allen Collins and Steve Gaines.
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Artimus Pyle has three sons, two daughters, two grandchildren and has been married twice.
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Artimus Pyle's interests include cars, motorbikes, horses and watching reruns of The Andy Griffith Show and Gomer Pyle.
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Artimus Pyle denied the charges, claiming the girls had been abused by people connected to babysitters in a Jacksonville mobile home park who held a grudge against him.
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Weeks before the trial was due to start in January 1994, Artimus Pyle pleaded no contest rather than risk a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment if found guilty in a jury trial.
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Artimus Pyle rejected a plea bargain offer and was acquitted by a jury in 2009.