The Red and Black

Issue date: 4/14/09 Section: Variety

Media Credit: Courtesy Krista Mettler Benjy Davis Project members often are high-spirited off stage, but they get serious and focus on giving the audience an excellent performance while on stage. [Click to enlarge]

Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung once said, "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed."

The same type of transformation came when lead singer and guitarist Benjy Davis and percussionist Mic Capdevielle met in grade school; the two instantly bonded. At the bike-riding, getting-into-trouble age, the boys didn't know a full-fledged folk-rock band would develop from their friendship.

Davis' and Capdevielle's high school years brought the preamble to the Benjy Davis Project.

"Benjy and I had a great vibe going on," Capdevielle said. "It is funny because I don't know if we had any intentions on continuing as much as we just loved playing together."

By 2001, the band's line-up began to fall into place as friends and fellow musicians joined.

"It wasn't an audition thing," Capdevielle said. "People would show up and play with us, and we would be like, 'OK, that's great. Let's continue on.' Other than Benjy and I starting it, we are just a bunch of people who met at the right time through other people."

With its Southern aura and melodious lyrics, the group quickly became one of the most popular bands in Baton Rouge, La.

With the current five-man piece in place, Benjy Davis Project has found its musical groove.

Re-released this past fall by its new management, the band's third album, "Dust," brings Southern-based, soulful music to the ears of all those who press play on their car stereos on a sunny day's drive.

"Not all of our songs feel the same," Capdevielle said. "Real feelings aren't all similar. So, the music creates its own mood. It speaks for itself and is very true."

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