Today I am interviewing Kris Bentley of the up and coming musical duo, Sundy Best. Kris and his singing partner Nick Jamerson hail from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. Their lyrics take you back to that region as Kris and Nick welcome you to their home through their music!!  You can feel the love for their home as you listen to their music and lyrics.  Being from Central Kentucky, the Gateway To The Mountains, their songs bring back many memories for me and to quote the title of one of their songs, it makes me “Wanna Go Home”!!  I got Kris on one of their rare nights off as he was relaxing in Lexington KY for the night.

eMetro Times: So what do you do on a night off?

Kris.– I am sure some Netflix will be watched.  I just got a new Wii game console so I have I been playing a lot of Super Mario again.

eMetro Times: So you don’t go out and hit the local bar scenes on the night off?

Kris – Yea. We actually do go out some.  Last Thursday we were in town and I went downtown to listen to some music and grab a bite to eat. Tonight I will eventually go out to grab a bite but it will be a pretty much chilling night.

eMetro Times: We heard you guys last week at Eddie’s Attic and loved what I heard.  My son in law got me turned on to you all back at Christmas.   In fact, he told me about you playing at Eddie’s. I am originally from Kentucky and love what you all are singing.  I just signed up on the Kin Folk Movement site . I signed up for the Georgia Kin Folk group and there are 15 members as of today!!  LOL

Kris– LOL Well, keep it growing. We appreciate the support   That is awesome!

eMetro Times: I see you all had other jobs when you first got to Lexington to pay the bills and get you going.  How long have you been doing this full time?

Kris– Actually we have been doing it full time since mid to late 2011, so going on 3 years.

eMetro Times:  At Eddies the other night of course it was just you two on stage.  Do you use other musicians at times ether on the road or when you record?

Kris — Yea, we have other musicians that record in the studio with us, but as far as our live shows it is just us for right now.

eMetro Times:  Do you plan on keeping it like that?

Kris   We’ll see. As this thing grows we will grow and see what happens but I will say what we do with the guitar and Cajon will all ways be a part of the show.

eMetro Times :  Well you all are doing great with just the two of you on stage now!!

Kris – Yea You know someone at an early age told me if “it ain’t broke don’t fix it” so…….

eMetro Times :  You play the Cajon, correct?  (At this point I mispronounced the name of the instrument that Kris plays. I pronounced it Cajun, like the folks from Louisiana, and he graciously  gave me an education on the spelling and the origin of the instrument)

Kris– It is called a Cajon (ka-hon) which is Spanish for BOX!

eMetro Times: What got you wanting to play the Cajon?

Kris– I saw one on a video and I went out to a local drum store and bought one.  I had never played it. I had always played the drums, but for what we were doing at the time, you know, just the two of us, I bought it, tried it out and taught myself to play it, it just seemed to fit and work and the more we played out, and did it like that, people seemed to really dig it and it caught on and it’s become a part or ourselves.

eMetro Times: Give me a quick description of the box. Is there anything inside the box that helps make the sounds or it made of a particular kind of wood……?

Kris– It is a hollow box ,but there are snares in it and they lay across the front plate as you hit it. I sit on the top and play the front of the box with my hands.

eMetro Times:  Do you bruise your hands a lot when playing it or do have plenty of calluses built up now.

Kris– I am pretty callused up now  at this point  !!!

At this point in the interview I mention I had fallen and injured (thought they were broken) two fingers and I mentioned that I would not be able to do what he is doing should I ever choose to follow in his footsteps. He mentioned he used to be pretty active as a college basketball player etc. and that  he had curtailed a lot of physical activities so as not to get injured.  We pick back up in the interview talking Basketball   !!!

eMetro Times:  I see that you played basketball at Centre College in Danville KY. Just a quick question off topic….what was your scoring average? LOL

Kris– AHHH  … probably my senior year I averaged around 12 to 13 points per game.

eMetro Times:  Lets get back on topic now !!   How long have you and Nick been playing  together?

Kris –We started in 2010 but we also , we grew up together, so we did some stuff back in high school together as well.

eMetro Times:  Back on the Cajon.  What got you interested in that. Did you see it on a video and said “Hey  That looks like something I could try.”

Kris –Yea it was different so I bought it and had no intentions of playing it a lot when I got it. It was just something to mess around with in the house, but….here we are!

eMetro Times:  What are your all’s plans.  What do u see the future looking like. You have grown a lot over the past few months and wondering what your thoughts are for the future.

Kris–Every day we are seeing new growth and new people are checking us out and listening to us. It is a pretty cool and special thing that is going on because everyone here is so connected . It is pretty special and unique you know we will see what happens.  We are recording some new music and are putting out a new record here soon. So the plan is keep playing put out the new music and we will see what happens.

eMetro Times :  Has there been any changes in your music from the first album to the one you are producing right now?

Kris –O yes.   We have had a lot of adjustments no doubt.  It continues to be, I know you kind of tend to write about some of the same stuff but as you grow and mature and the more you write you look at things a different way , so we are definitely continuing to grow and change some .

eMetro Times :  What would you call your style or genre of music to be?

Kris– I don’t really know to be honest.  Some of the new stuff we are recording is a little bit different than was on our last record. …..AHHH.. To be honest I think it is just American Music. I know that sounds like a cliché but our biggest influences are bands and artists from the classic rock era and we just trying to make music that will be timeless. I don’t know if that type of music right now , or what we are doing, is specifically in one genre or not. We are not really worried about the kind of music we are making, or what we want to call it, we are letting them do that.

eMetro Times :  Who is Lilly ? ( one song that appears on two of their CD’s with some added lyrics on one version)

Kris…(Laughs)  An old girlfriend…of course that is not her real name.  She doesn’t know that!!

eMetro Times :  You have two versions of the song on the discs. You added some lyrics to Lilly 14 for the Bring Upthe Sun album.

Kris–The song initially was the same we just wanted to…. kind of capture the way we do it live. That is the way we play it live.  It just has some more energy to it and I thought Nick sang it great. That and “I Wanna Go Home”, we didn’t redo those we just did other versions of them, just because we thought they could be added on there and fit in with everything else we put on there and they are songs that meant a lot to us and it was kind of an exposure thing.

eMetro Times :  I notice in your songs there are a lot of “home” influence which obviously is Eastern Kentucky which it looks like it continues to be the theme to a lot of your writings. Is that correct?

Kris. –Well….we write about what we know and where we’ve been and grew up, and you  know Eastern Kentucky is the main reason we are doing what we are doing.  I think that will always be a part of who we are.

eMetro Times :  Tell me about “I Wanna Go Home”. Were you stuck in a hotel in snowy Chicago one night and thinking about Kentucky and longing to go home? LOL!

Kris– Ironically we were sitting, stuck in Lexington where we live now. It was the time that me and Nick had just moved in together in Lexington. I had been there for some time but he had just moved down from Pikeville and we really didn’t want to be working our jobs, we rather had been playing music all the time and at that time we were not playing full time but we wanted too. It is kind of literal but it kinda was just about wanting to go back to your childhood days when you did not have any worries or responsibilities.

eMetro Times:  Well that brings up sore spot with you all. I am by no means a song writer but I always thought it would be great to write a song about trying to get back to Kentucky one day and you all just did that better than I could even image……SO I am out of the writing business as you all took my song before I ever got started  !  LOL

Grand Ole Opry   I know you all left Atlanta and had a date at the Opry the next evening.  How many times have you all played there.

Kris–We have played 5 times now…

eMetro Times:  Any magic moment happen while you were there. Did you see any of your idols there or something that made you both say. This is it…..We made it!!  Any AH HA moment???

Kris –Man I tell ya…yea.  There was one of those moments but it kind of ,I don’t know, it didn’t end up happening , but the thought that it could have happened that night made it pretty awesome man!! It was our most recent time after our Eddie’s Attic show.  We got to the Opry and we were playing at 8:30 and we got there about 7:30 and Deana Carter was on stage and come to find out, she was waiting on us to get there before she performed. She was going to ask us to sing Strawberry Wine with her on stage.  That was very flattering and really cool. I wish we had gotten there earlier to do that but I am sure there will be another time for us to be around her.

eMetro Times:  Well that is an honor. I guess the old saying is true, “its the thought that counts” right?

Kris –Yea, and that song is so iconic, it was just cool, but every time at the Opry has it’s own unique and special experience.

eMetro Times:  I know sometimes I will approach a friend and ask the generic question, “What’s Going On” and they sometimes answer…OOO Just Living the Dream!   I guess in your case, as well as Nick, you all ARE living the Dream aren’t you???

Kris– Yea ..we are getting to do what we never thought we would get to do for a living and you know be as responsible as we had always hoped we would have to be ,and that is not being very responsible at all  LOL ..Not many things we have to do now except focus on the music and write the best songs we possibly can and doing our thing so we are really blessed and fortunate to be here and doing what we are doing… I can’t image NOT doing this.

We appreciate your efforts to spread the word through the Kinfolk site. It means a lot. It’s cool.  I think one thing that we never really consciously thought of or tried to do, was to make music that everyone can relate to and enjoy no matter their age or any circumstances, or who they are. I think it is cool. At our shows recently we have been playing at festivals with kids from 3, 4 or 5 years old and all the way up to our grandparents age.

eMetro Times:  Well you do have some great music and I can see all ages enjoying it.

Kris — Like I said we are just trying to make music that will relate to people 30 years from now, like it does today !!!

That pretty much ended the interview in regards to their music and their future. The rest of the time we did what any good Blue Blooded Kentuckians will do when they get together…we talked about Kentucky Basketball!!!  Both Kris and Nick are huge UK fans and in fact, sang My Old Kentucky Home at Senior Night this past year.   If that doesn’t bring a tear to your eyes on that special night…You ain’t from Kentucky!!

If you all ever have a chance to see these guys live,you need to go.  If you want to become one of their KINFOLK and find out where they are playing you can go to www.sundybest.net. Once in the site click the Kinfolk box and you will become…One of the Family…..Welcome.!!