A local piano restorer, tuner and technician recently refurbished a Lynyrd Skynyrd road piano.
White Bluff resident Sam Lewis restored the late Billy Powell's white, 7-foot, 1953 Steinway Model B to playing condition after the piano was soaked by the historic May 2010 flood.
"There's no way this piano is suitable for studio or for concert stage, anything like that, but it will do for playing, it probably would do for playing in a rock band," said Lewis. "It's just not quite what it was, obviously it can't be, but it does play in place fairly well."
He even hammered out a version of The Eagles' "Desperado" during an early August interview, after jokingly declining to play Skynyrd's "Free Bird."
Lewis and his team resurrect decrepit pianos, and repair wooden furniture, through Sam Lewis Piano, a company the White Bluff resident runs out of his local shop. Lewis' spouse Jean, their daughter-in-law Sheri Spencer, and Bo Perry reconditioned Powell's piano.
"It came to us after it had been in a road case in Nashville," recalled Lewis. "It was flooded in May (2010). It came to us in November.
"The road case had never been opened, so it was full of mold and mildew and all sorts of things that I can't even begin to describe," he added.
Band loses much in storage
Lynyrd Skynyrd Tour Manager Steve Voudouris said the band lost almost everything in storage at a downtown Nashville warehouse during the flood.
Powell, who joined the band as keyboardist in the 1970s, passed away Jan. 28, 2009, in the midst of recording Skynyrd's latest album "God & Guns."
Voudouris; Steve Traum, the band's keyboard technician; and Brian Evors, the stage manager, sought information about reviving Powell's old piano. Voudouris said he contacted Steinway representatives in New York and Los Angeles, but was told the piano was a lost cause.
"This piano was different because it was Powell's," noted Voudouris. "It was painted white. The people at Steinway were like why would you do this to a Steinway?"
Ernie Bartschi, Studio Instrument Rentals-Nashville operations manager, had worked with Skynyrd and Lewis through SIR, and recommended Lewis to Voudouris.
Lewis initially turned down the offer after evaluating the instrument. He recalled the band's reps didn't care how well the piano played, they just wanted it to hold tune.
"The water came up to middle C and above middle C there was no water, so lots of humidity damage," explained Lewis. "Conventional wisdom says you can't do that with a piano that had been that badly damaged by water."
However, Lewis discussed the matter further with band reps.
"I told them I could do a few spread out keys here and there and see if I thought we could get to that objective," recalled Lewis. "Once I ran a few strings and got a few hammers working, I was confident we could at least get them that."
Revival begins
Lewis and his team started work in February and spent six months restoring the instrument.
The outer shell and keys of Powell's piano were reconditioned, but Lewis had to replace the instrument's "innyrds," including new strings, hammers, felts, etc.
"It was just a lot of work by hand, a lot of experimentation because there were warps in the keys," said Lewis. "They were warped because of the humidity and just being soaked in the water."
Lewis noted one of the biggest obstacles was keeping his team from completely restoring the piano to mint condition, since band reps wanted the piano left as Powell had kept it.
Voudouris has seen pictures of the restored piano, and said he's happy with the result, especially since "a lot of people told me it wouldn't be possible to restore the piano."
Voudouris added the piano will not go back on tour.
"It's Powell's piano, and he's the only person who would ever play it," explained Voudouris.