One of a trio of southern honky tonk pianists who, for my money defined the southern rock of the 70's. Along with Little Feat's Bill Payne and the Allman Brothers Chuck Leavell they brought the blues sound of the old time greats like Pinetop Perkins, Roosevelt Sykes and Champion Jack Dupree as a counterpoint to those guitar dominated bands.

Of the three Billy Powell was the one who never really strayed from the fold of his original band. Most of his work was done with Skynyrd or its derivative groups of survivors. Bill Payne became a journeyman session player and Chuck Leavell the go-to guy for big name artists like Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones for their road bands.

The trio had a brother group in England comprised of Ian Stewart (the Stones), Nicky Hopkins (The Kinks and the Who) and Ian MacLagan (The Faces), who like Leavell all passed through the Stones' road band at one point or another.

With all due respect, and I'm not trying to be funny, it seems like the guys who replaced the guys who replaced the original members are now dying off in this band. It's deadlier than being Spinal Tap's drummer. It seems like every other month I read that someone in Lynyrd Skynyrd died.