Big Daddy Love

Big Daddy Love play Smokey Joe's Cafe on Friday, October 30, with the set starting at 9:30 PM. It's a late one, so you've got plenty of time to get there and settle in before they take the stage.

For this particular show, they're playing as the BDL Acoustic Trio, a stripped-back version of the full band. If you've seen them before, you know the full sound—rock, roots, and bluegrass all running together—but this is the acoustic side of that same coin. It's the same songs and the same songwriting, just played on acoustic instruments, which changes the whole feel of the room.

To get a sense of where they're coming from, it helps to know the full band. Big Daddy Love is a four-piece from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and they call their sound 'Appalachian Rock'—a mix of rock, roots, and bluegrass. The full lineup is Ashley Sutton on bass guitar, Scott Lewis on drums, Joey Recchio on guitar and vocals, and Brian Swenk on banjo. That banjo is a good place to start: it's the bluegrass side of the equation, and it's what gives the music its Appalachian lean. When you hear them as a trio, that acoustic, rootsy side comes to the front.

Smokey Joe's Cafe is at 510 Briar Creek Road in Charlotte. The show starts at 9:30 PM, and entry is $5.