Take one part Damien Rice and one part John Mayer, add Jack White's cranked-up edgy rock attitude and top it all of with The Morning Benders' indie pop charm, and you get Ned Durrett.
Durrett has solidified his name as USC's musical great on the rise, pumping up his heartfelt acoustic love songs and taking his performances to a new, louder level with his full band, Ned Durrett and the Kindly Gents.
The fourth-year English student, had already found a following touting his acoustic chops on his solo EP "The Carolina." But he has stepped up his performance game, and started booking regular shows across town with the support of his kindly gents Cameron Powell, a fourth-year print journalism student, and Mike De Kozlowski, a fourth-year environmental science student.
"They're both 10 times better musicians than myself," Durrett said. "It's one of those stories where it all just came together. All three of us work really well as a band."
And, although Durrett is still the frontman of the band, he insists that each member of Kindly Gents makes the act something great.
"I know it can be kind of deceiving with the name, but I want them to know we're all making music together," Durrett said. "We all write the music together."
With new inspirations and two more lyrical minds working on the band's fresh set of tracks, there is bound to be a little shift in style.
"Before, when it was just me, I was trapped in this cycle of slower love songs," Durrett said. "I still love those songs, and think there's a place for them, but the sound's getting a little more Southern and a little dirtier."
Identifying the Kindly Gents' go-to sound as "indie pop grass," Durrett and the band have created something so diverse in its inspirations, but sure to please any genre's crowd.
"If you took Modest Mouse, put it together with Jack White and The Raconteurs, and then threw in The Morning Benders, I think that's where we're going," Durrett said.
And, whereas a solo Durrett let his voice and lyrics stand with his acoustic guitar, Powell and De Kozlowski have helped to define the music's mission.
"With just the guitar and singing, people can take the sound wherever they want," Durrett said.
Durrett and the Kindly Gents, who have been showcasing their music at live events across Columbia, have just hit the USC School of Music studios to put out their first six-track release.
"We're still not diving into a full-length, but I feel like that's going to be the new norm in the industry anyway," Durrett said.
Tracks being recorded in studio include "Loop, Swoop and Pull," "Pulling Daisies" and "Carolina Lullaby," the band's go-to "single." "Boyhood Pride," the Kindly Gents' most recently written track, is listeners' best look into the band's new sound, proving to be a "dirtier track."
The most incredible part of this local, USC setup is Durrett and the Kindly Gents' resumes with Durrett serving as a University Ambassador and playing on the men's club volleyball team, and Powell interning at The State, writing for Scene SC and holding down the bass in fellow Columbia act kempridley.
Ned Durrett and the Kindly Gents will be playing at The White Mule Saturday night with Joshua Fletcher & the Six-Shot Romance. Doors open at 6 p.m., the show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets are $5 at the door.
Find the Kindly Gents on Facebook and follow Durrett @ThatsSoNed for updates on the album and upcoming shows.