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When Artimus Pyle, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s drummer for most of the ’70s, heard the news of the death of his former bandmate, guitarist Gary Rossington, yesterday, he immediately pulled up the final text messages between the two.
“I’ve already gone back and checked them out and read the entire thread between Gary and I. And I will cherish those lyrics for the rest of my life,” Pyle, who replaced original drummer Bob Burns in 1975, told Rolling Stone over the phone from his home in rural North Carolina.
Rossington died on March 5 at the age of 71 after years of health problems that had thrown him off the streets more than a few times. Perhaps best known for his slide guitar work on Skynyrd’s immortal Free Bird, Rossington was the last founding member of the southern rock titans.
“As Bob, Gary and [singer] ronnie [Van Zant] got together in Bob’s carport on the west side of Jacksonville, Fla., they put together something that went worldwide,” says Pyle. “Everyone will remember Gary as a road dog, trouper, songwriter and one of the greatest guitarists of all time. He just loved being on stage.”
Pyle first crossed paths with Rossington in 1973 and officially joined Skynyrd two years later. Pyle says Rossington and fellow guitarists Ed King and Allen Collins each had their own playing styles that gave Skynyrd so much of its depth.
“That was Ronnie’s genius,” says Pyle, “to be able to bring together what doesn’t seem like a viable pairing — three completely different ones [guitar] Voices.”
With Rossington’s death, Pyle, 74, is now the only living member of the band enshrined in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: He was inducted with Rossington, Burns, Van Zant, Collins, King, Billy Powell, Steve Gaines and Leon Wilkeson in 2006. He is also the last survivor of the band’s tragic plane crash in 1977, which killed six people, including Van Zant, Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines.
“As it turns out, the last living member of Lynyrd Skynyrd isn’t everything you would imagine,” says Pyle. “It’s painful and I’m trying to process it and deal with it.”
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Pyle, who, like ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr, praised Rossington’s game, notes that he finds solace in remembering all the moments he and Rossington shared over their years.
“I’m thinking about the good times, you know? The fun things we did, these huge concerts, like in London at Knebworth [in 1976] and opening up to the Rolling Stones,” says Pyle. “Gary and I were very close. We liked a lot of the same things – listening to Jeff Beck on his giant stereo at his house, riding the water out in his boat, riding together.”
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Pyle, who currently plays drums in his rock ensemble Artimus Pyle Band, was embroiled in a 2017 legal battle with members of Lynyrd Skynyrd, including Rossington, over the release of a dramatic film about the plane crash.
“At this point in my life, especially since Gary died, all the bad stuff, all the reasons I was mad at everyone? I don’t want to remember those things,” says Pyle. “I never want to talk about it again – the music business hasn’t destroyed our love of music, it never has. Gary’s place in music history is rock solid. Fly on, fly high, our free bird brother.”