Wow what a fun night this was.
I saw The Artimus Pyle Band in Cincinnat, OH.
Artimus is the last classic member of Lynyrd Skynyrd (unless you count Rickey Medlocke) still alive and playing.
Artimus will be 76 years old on Monday July 15th, and he looks and plays like he’s so much younger.
He and his band play the classic Lynyrd Skynyrd songs with justice, pride, honor, and respect.
All the songs you want to hear from the classic Skynyrd era they play.
And on top of all of this, Artimus is by far the most down to earth, kindest famous person I have yet to meet.
As soon as I walked in, he was telling stories to the drummer of the opening band, Six Gun Sally, and I just happened to overhear some of it. He said his favorite drummer is Neil Peart of RUSH (awesome) and his favorite guitarist is Jeff Beck (also awesome).
He eventually went to the back for awhile but came back out before the crowd really started coming in.
Only a few of us were there at that point, and he just sat on the stage and told stories and chatted with us.
I showed him my copy of his band’s latest CD. It is called Anthems: Honoring The Music of Lynyrd Skynyrd. It’s really good, by the way.
He was happy to see I had it and told me about how he was able to get Skynyrd guitarist Gary Rossington (RIP) to play his famous slide part on the version of Freebird, featuring Dolly Parton, on this album and also on her Rockstar album.
He said it took several calls but everything worked out and Gary was able to do it and wanted to do it. It was the last recording known he did. As a fan, I’m glad Artimus was able to make that happen.
He said he was going to take pictures and sign stuff after the show, and he did, but some people went ahead and gave him some stuff to sign, and he had no problem doing it.
So, I figured I’ll just go ahead and have him sign my stuff if he was OK with it, and he was.
He signed all my Skynyrd CDs he’s on and the Anthems CD and he told me how great his band is. He said you can’t beat the original but that his band is really good, and they are.
When I told him I had been playing the music all day leading up to the show, he said “Ronnie Van Zant never wrote a bad song” and he’s right.
When I told him he is one of my favorite drummers, he said something to the effect of “well I just took a little from here and there”. And when I told him Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin once said something to the effect of “everybody nicks it”, he said he once met Robert and thought he was cool and a lot taller than he thought he was. Trust me, Artimus is a phenomenal drummer. Always has been. And I’m going to keep saying this, but he is so down to earth and kind.
And again, I was going to wait until after the show to get pictures with him, and I still did then too, but he said “snap away” so we took some pictures together right then.
Even when the crowd increased a bit and saw that he was just hanging out and wanted to speak to him and get stuff signed, he still took the time to talk to them and signed stuff right then if they wished and took pictures.
And again, after the show, he did the same thing. Signed stuff, talked to fans, took pictures, and was just so down to earth and kind to everyone.
When I was in line the second time, he was telling some ladies about the Anthems CD and when they said they didn’t know about it, I handed him my CD and he showed it to them and told them about it. He then handed it back to me. He told me he loved my Grand Funk hat too and said their singer/guitarist Mark Farner (phenomenal talent too) is one of his friends.
Even though he’s not online (his socials are handled by others), I still gave him my website card and told him about what I do on here. When I told him I was going to type a review of this experience, he said “thank you for doing that”. And even though he is not online and doesn’t look at it, I told him one of the band could show him. He told his merch guy to hold on to my card, but even if he never sees this, I appreciate him even accepting my card. And he jokingly said “this isn’t a porno site is it?” And I laughed and said no and he said OK. Funny.
And might I add, Artimus did all of this for free. He does not charge for meet and greets. Again, he is just a great, down to earth, kind person who loves to talk to people and cares about the fans.
I cannot say enough about Artimus Pyle.
Great talent and his band rocks, but wow, what a great person he is.
Thank you Artimus and all of the band for being awesome and keep on rocking guys.
As I mentioned, Six Gun Sally was the opening act and they rocked too. They have a new single and album coming soon. I’ll definitely be checking those out.
Again, I don’t know if Artimus will ever see this, but if he does, I again just want to say thank you sir for all the great music, the great shows, the great memories, and just for your kindness.
And thanks to he and the band for singing/playing these amazing songs amazingly well.
Thank you.
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