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.”

Benjy is the sole provider of the inspirational lyrics. The rest of the members come together and inject their personalities and input through their instruments to finalize the musical side.

The group’s real and oftentimes comical characters also surface in the contests and tour names they come up with on the road.

“We had a mustache tour where we had to rock the mustache out the entire time,” Capdevielle said. “The coolness for us is that we are all laughable, down Southern boys.”

Although high-spirited and “jerkable” off stage, on stage the group is focused solely on providing a great performance.

“They don’t mess up, which is pretty rare,” said Chardy McEwan, Benjy Davis Project’s tour manager. “They’re all just straight-up musicians. They all know they don’t want to do anything else.”

After many years and hundreds of concerts, the musicians still grow anxious as they take the stage.

“Every show we go out, and we are nervous,” Capdevielle said. “You have the small kind of butterflies no matter the size of the crowd. To know that those people out there – whether it is 20, 200 or 20,000 – those people came out to see you. It’s exciting to be there with each other and look out into the crowd and see whoever is out there and wants to be with us.”

With Davis writing for the next album and plans in place to record early this fall, these performers each have a passion for the project.

“It’s become like a family,” Benjy Davis said. “Every time we’re with the band, it’s like a bunch of brothers. We trust each other.”