Soon to be 6, Liam Turnage of Holly Springs has a lot in common with other boys his age. He likes dinosaurs, Transformers, soccer and T-ball. But Liam stands apart when it comes to music. It’s likely there aren’t too many others his age who could listen to a Counting Crows song and reproduce it on the piano by memory.

Is Liam a prodigy? Dad Charles Turnage, 34, won’t go that far, but he does admit his son is gifted. Turnage first noticed Liam’s talent when Liam was 18 months old and the two were playing with an electronic drum set.

“He would always want to come up and sit with me, and I would give him the sticks and he would hit the different drums because he liked the sound of them,” remembers Turnage. “And then I noticed he could play in time, a proper beat. I think that’s when I really noticed he had some natural rhythm. He’s observed me play and he can just do it.”

After practicing on a kiddie drum set for a while, Liam now plays an adult drum set, although Turnage says Liam has to stand up to play. Liam writes his own music on a Mac computer, and Dad gives advice while they’re playing. “I’ll give him little tips — like play this part faster or play this part slower,” said Turnage. “I’ll get on the drum set and say, ‘it sounds like this.’ And he can just immediately do it.”

When asked why he likes to play drums so much, Liam replied in typical 5-year-old fashion,“Because it's so much fun.”

Liam gives occasional concerts at his school, Little Dreamers Preschool in Holly Springs; he’ll start kindergarten at Holly Ridge Elementary this fall. He’s comfortable on a larger stage too. Last fall he played with his dad at the Koka Booth Amphitheatre for the free “Celebrate Cary at Sunset” program, with Dad on guitar. “We’re hoping to do that again,”

said Turnage, adding he’s also hoping to play at a festival in Dunn, his hometown.

Liam is ready. “He doesn’t get nervous,” said Turnage. “I think he’s just so confident in how he can play. Sometimes if he has to talk in the microphone he might get a little shy, but as far as playing the drums, that’s second nature to him. He enjoys performing in front of people, especially kids.”

Both Charles Turnage and his wife, Katie, 29, have a musical background.

“When I met her she told me she played electric guitar and I did as well so I was really surprised by that,” said Charles.

Liam has already taken up a second instrument at his parents’ encouragement.

“Because he was so good at the drums, we wanted to get him into piano so he could learn to read music,” said Turnage. “He loves it. He pretends he’s having a concert. He makes up little songs on the piano.”

And he also plays what he hears. “I was playing the Counting Crows on the guitar one day,” said Turnage. “A few days later, my wife asked, ‘Did you teach him to play the Counting Crows song?’ and I said no. He just heard it, picked it up, and figured it out on the piano.”

The Turnages have two other children: Kylie, 2, and Claire, 8. Both enjoy dancing to their brother’s and dad’s music.

So are Liam and Charles Turnage a father-son band in the making? Maybe one day, but not now. “I think it’s just a fun thing he’s really gifted at and we like to keep it fun,” said Turnage. “I want to keep helping him enjoy playing.”

But every dad dreams of the future his kids might have.

“I did send a couple of tapes to some of the late night shows; this was by encouragement from people at work and family,” said Turnage, who works at Biogen in RTP. “We’d like to play for bigger audiences to kind of show off his talent.”