He is a drummer, percussionist and singer-songwriter
born Thomas Delmar Pyle in Louisville, Kentucky.His father was an architect, but also an occasional singer
and conductor of swing bands and he was always surrounded by music,
although says his interest in drums came from the sound of the hooves of
the horses.His mother bought
him bongos when he was 9 years old and by the time he was entering his
teens, his father had got him a set of drums.His family moved to Columbus, Ohio, when he was a
teenager and he joined his first band, The Thom Thumbs, but this would all
stop after graduation when he became the best honor recruit in the Marines
in 1968.He left service on
compassionate grounds after a plane his father was in was brought down by a
B-57 in New Mexico.Deciding
to take further studies in music he entered Tennessee Technical College and
this is where he was first called “Artimus” because he looked so young for
his age. Moving to South
Carolina he became friends with the members of the Marshall Tucker Band
through his then wife and this association resulted in him being hired by
Charlie Daniels as a percussionist in his band.He also became a session drummer for the Marshall Tucker
Band, but after he and Charlie Daniels had recommended him to Ronnie Van
Zant he became a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1974. With them he would see
success with songs such as “Saturday Night Special” and “Sweet Home Alabama”.In 1977 was a victim in the plane
crash that killed three of the band co-members.He apparently pulled himself out of the wreckage, suffering
from a broken sternum, and made his way to get help from a farmhouse a
short distance away but through swampland.There have been several accounts that say that the
people living at the farm were unaware of the crash and met him with a gun,
shooting him in the shoulder, although the son of the farmer has denied
this.In 1979, after a couple
of years of recovery from the crash, he joined some other surviving members
from Lynyrd Skynyrd in the band Alias.1981 saw him forming his Artimus Pyle Band aka A.P.B. or
All Points Bulletin and they would appear on tour and record several
albums.Having moved to
Jerusalem in Israel, he re-joined Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987 after he as
contacted they were reforming and was present on their Skynyrd Tribute Tour
and the album Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991. Leaving them following this recording he began working as
a solo artist and also appearing with other acts in the studio and on the
road.In 1993 he was given
eight years probation for “sexual battery” of his two children and arrested
twice 14 years later for not registering as a sexual offender.He went on to co-found The Fenwicks
with his two sons and then formed the trio The Truth before re-forming his
band APB.Artists he has worked with during
the course of his career include the Atlanta Rhythm Section, Jo Jo
Billingsley, Charlie Daniels, Paul Davis. Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Maria
Muldaur and Carlos Santana to name a few. Featuring on many albums, a few
include his own Artimus Venomus as well as Contraband by
Alias, Nightcaller by APB, Champagne Jam by the Atlanta
Rhythm Section and Nuthin’ Fancy, One More for the Road, Street
Survivors and Gimme Back My Bullets by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The 2000s have seen him performing as
Artimus Pyle & The Saturday Night Special Band in 2004, be inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd and
appear as a touring member of Deep South in 2007.
The Atlanta Rhythm Section recordings
I'm Not Going to Let It Bother Me Tonight (Buddy Buie/Robert Nix/Dean Daughtry)
The Ballad of Lois Malone (Buddy Buie/Robert Nix/Dean Daughtry/Barry Bailey)
Champagne Jam
(Buddy Buie/Robert Nix/J.R. Cobb)
The Great Escape (Buddy Buie/Robert Nix/Barry Bailey)
