Billy Powell RIP

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Just found out that Billy Powell of Lynard Skynard died. While Skynard occasionally played the blues, Billy Powell was an amazing Boogie Woogie piano player. Billy Powell was the piano player that I listened to the most as a kid, and I learned every amazing piano solo of his that I could. I especially loved They Call Me The Breeze, that song really changed my life. Once I figured out all the riffs to that song, and realized that you could take those riffs and put them in all sorts of blues songs, I suddenly became a wanted player in bands. It is funny that Billy Powell and Lynard Skynard introduced me to the blues, but it is true. Of course, Powell didn't invent the music. I found out that Powell was just playing what Otis Spann, Memphis Slim, and Sunnyland Slim were playing when he was a kid, and what they picked up from the old barrelhouse piano players that were playing in the turpentine camps before that. It is sad to see him go so early. God bless you Billy I will forever be indebted to your greatness.