It’s finally here.
Sundy Best’s highly anticipated comeback album Feel Good Country officially hit streaming platforms today, and it was well worth the wait. I think it’s safe to say that Sundy Best BACK.
With 10 songs that, for the most part, are uncharacteristically upbeat and optimistic for country music coming out of Appalachia, Feel Good Country quite literally lives up to the name. Listening to these songs just makes you feel good, there’s no way around it.
For those of you who may not know, Sundy Best is a duo out of Prestonsburg, Kentucky composed of Nicholas Jamerson and Kris Lee Bentley. The two started playing music all the way back in high school together and released their first album as Sunday Best, Door Without a Screen, in 2013.
Between then and 2018, Sundy Best wrote, recorded, and toured in a prolific manner, releasing three more albums, a live album, and several singles following that debut record, for a total of nearly 100 songs in just over four years. As a result, they quickly gained a massive following and rose to the top of the regional country scene, experiencing quite a bit of national success as well.
Known for songs like “Painted Blue,” “Hindman,” and “I Wanna Go Home,” the duo found themselves in a position of Appalachian country music royalty and one of America’s national non-mainstream up and comers.
Unfortunately, they announced their breakup in 2018, and while both members explored separate musical endeavors, we didn’t hear from Sundy Best as a duo for a while. Luckily for us, though, that was relatively short lived, and in 2020, they announced their plans to make a comeback.
But it wasn’t until February 2022 that they finally released their first single “Walk By Faith,” which was followed by three more singles over the next year to promote today’s record release of Feel Good Country.
Anticipation has been building for a while now, and reached an all time high with last week’s release of the full tracklist.
But now that it’s finally here, check out some of my favorites.
1. “Feel Good Country” (Bentley, Jamerson)
2. “I Won’t Be Bothered” (Jamerson)
3. “Winding Through the Woods” (Bentley)
4. “Right on Time” (Davis, Jamerson)
5. “Walk by Faith” (Bentley Davis, Jamerson)
6. “Bad Imagination” (Jamerson, Landry)
7. “Above Ground” (Allen, Davies, Hyde, Jamerson)
8. “Stay With Me” (Davis, Jamerson)
9. “Escapee” (Bentley)
10. “Brother” (Bentley)
It’s only February, but this is the early frontrunner for album of the year for me thus far, I can’t get enough of it.
I’ll be listening to these songs for a while now, but it also never hurts to throw some “Hindman” in the mix while we’re on the subject of these guys.
This track off of their most recent album prior to Feel Good Country, 2016’s Almar Sky, might be one of the best country songs of all time.
