Night Drive releases first CD

Layin' It On the Line is local band Night Drive's first CD release.

The band, consisting of rhythm guitarist and songwriter Jimmy McCumbee, lead guitarist and songwriter Barry Lefty Powell, bass guitarist Steve Liggett and drummer Randy Liggett, is a high-

powered country and rock band that also performs songs from thel'50s andl'60s.

All four band members are vocalists, either singing lead or providing harmony. The 10 song tracks on the CD were written and arranged by McCumbee and Powell.

The CD is entitiled Layin' It On The Line, which is the first song on the CD, and is a true country rock song, McCumbee said.

I wrote that song in about 15 minutes. It just came to me, Powell said.

The CD not only features country rock, but also has four ballads and one true country song, An Angel In Your Place.

We practiced the songs together about 10 times before we cut the CD, Steve Liggett said.

McCumbee and the Liggett brothers played together in the 1990s in a band called Desperados.

We changed the name to Night Drive because a band in the Harpers Ferry area was called El Dorado and there was a lot of confusion between the two groups, McCumbee said.

McCumbee, a lifelong resident of Berkeley Springs, has been writing songs for 30 years. When Powell was asked how long he has been writing songs, he just said, A long time.

Steve Liggett also lives in Berkeley Springs and his brother Randy lives in Buck Valley, Pa. Powell resides in Martinsburg.

We play three or four gigs a month, but more jobs in the summer, McCumbee said.

Sometimes we play two jobs on the same day during the summer, Randy Liggett said.

A schedule of the band's upcoming engagements can be found on their web site, www. myspace.com/nightdrive5. You can also sample some of the songs from the CD there.

Musical heritage

Night Drive joins together generations of musical talent. Both McCumbee's parents Bud and Anna Marie McCumbee are musicians. The Liggett brothers are sons of the late Woody Liggett and Powell's father Boyce Jim Powell is a musician. For several generations, members of these families have been playing music together.

Night Drive has opened, or performed with, the Platters, Tommy Cash, the late Johnny Paycheck, Big Al Downing and many others. Individually, each band member has been playing music for 25 or more years.

The CD was recorded at Echoes Recording Studio in Sharpsburg, Md. and released by NBT Records of Berkeley Springs. Currently the band is selling the CD at venues where they perform.

For more information about the CD or for bookings, contact the group by email at night drive5@aol.com or call Jimmy McCumbee at 304-258-4936.