Staff report

LUMBERTON — The Black Water Grille comes alive Friday when hometown band Big Daddy Drive set up to rock out.

The band plays classic rock, country and ’80s music and a few original songs.

This is the band’s third time playing Black Water Grille. The show begins at 9:30 p.m.

The band is made up of Jami Moore who does the lead vocals and plays guitar, John Gales on bass, Keith Ross playing lead guitar and backing vocals, Mark Schwarze on drums and backing vocals and Josh Bryant on Guitar.

“We all grew up in Lumberton playing music together,” Schwarze said. “And we’ve all been in bands that toured the East Coast.”

Big Daddy started as a three piece band with only a guitar, a bass player and a vocalist. Later, they added a guitarist and a drummer to make the five piece band. They have been together playing shows in a three hour radius for three-and-a-half years.

Over the years, they have toured regionally and built a following of fans and friends, Schwarze said, that follows them to gigs in other cities.

“We have people from Lumberton who travel out of town to see us,” Schwarze said.

The fact that the band is still together is a thrill, given the decline in live music over the past five years. Disc jockeys offer a less expensive and complicated option for bar owners.

“It’s a business issue,” Schwarze said. “It’s a lot cheaper to bring in a one person DJ. For bands it takes a lot more money to stay out and play gigs. For us it was a lot more expensive last summer when gas was $4. It comes down to money. I don’t think there is a decline in the demand for live music.”

A BDD show typically lasts three to four hours. Their song choices reflect bar-goer’s tastes. The band plays mostly classic rock, with a few country songs sprinkled in. The band also plays ’80s music, which has enjoyed a new popularity recently.

“The song choice that we have has a little something for everybody,” Schwarze said.