For Carl Chambers, the country music business is "dog eat dog''. Chambers, of Auburndale, is a country music performer and composer and a song he wrote in 1979, "Close Enough to Perfect," is No.1 on country music charts this week, sung by the award-winning group Alabama.

Chambers performs around the state with his band, Southern Honey, also based in Auburndale. The group will be performing in Lake Wales' annual Walesfest on Friday and will open a show at the Winter Haven Speedway Sunday with Terri Gibbs. Ms. Gibbs wrote "Somebody's Knocking," a song which made the country Top 10 recently.

Southern Honey is composed of Joe Spann on banjo and lead guitar, Joni Canova on drums and Chambers's wife, Nancy, on bass. Chambers is the main vocalist for the group, and plays lead and rhythm guitar. Chambers hopes to find a replacement for Cindy Cromeans, who plays piano, but will be leaving soon. He also expects to recruit a steel guitar player from Maine.

Chambers formed Southern Honey about two years ago, and the group is a blend of diverse musical talents and backgrounds. Spann had beer. playing banjo, and had recorded his own album of mostly selfcomposed tunes. With Southern Honey, Spann is required to play lead guitar, something he has never done before.
"We keep pretty open-minded about what each of, us likes - we're all from different, musical backgrounds," Spann says.

Joni, the daughter of Auburndale City Manager Bruce Canova, began playing drums at 6, and before she joined Southern Honey, played mostly with groups playing popular music. According to Chambers, Ms. Canova is one of the few women in the country playing drums for a country music band.

"Making the switch from popular to country music is pretty tough," she says. "It's a completely different rhythm and the emphasis is different, too."

Nancy Chambers had never played bass before she began playing with the group, but now, she's an integral part of the band, as well as being the group's business manager. "I knew three or four chords on the guitar I learned as a kid, but that was it," says Mrs. Chambers. Her main interest is the business aspect of Southern Honey because, she says, "some hot bass player might come along and steal my job away, but I'll still have something to do."

Seven years ago, Chambers was into rock 'n' roll, but went back to his roots and began playing country music. "I didn't like what rock 'n' roll was doing," says Chambers. "Country music wasn't 'in' when I was in high school - the only places that had country music were dives."

Chambers and Southern Honey pride themselves on not playing Top 40 country music hits, but prefer to play songs composed by Chambers or of their own selection.

"We're not going to sacrifice our art for money," says Mrs. Chambers. Spann agrees: "We've already been that route - playing the same thing six nights a week."

The group also has vowed to stay out of the bar scene, says Chambers. "About four months ago we stopped doing bars. We want to play in nice places, not in a place full of drunks that aren't even listening," he says. "It's getting to the point where we can compete with just about any country music band around and blow them off the stage."

Chambers is hesitant to label the type of music his band plays, saying he tends to shy away from labels all together. "I'd say we are a country music band, but with our own personal influences," he says.

For Chambers, having one of the songs he wrote being No. 1 on the charts is just another stepping stone to success. But, he adds, he really hasn't mapped out his course to success. "I believe in letting it (your music career) run its own course, and when you see opportunities, take those that you want and let the others go."
"Close Enough to Perfect" isn't the first time one of his songs has done well. Two years ago a song he wrote and performed, "Take Me Home With You," reached the charts.

"It got to the charts, but it didn't do so well," he says.

If success strikes Chambers, it may mean he will have to leave the group for Nashville, but the rest of the group aren't in tears about it. For them, it would signify another opportunity. After all, says Chambers, "It's who you know, how well you know them and what they can do that matters."