Blaze & Kelly – Life is Beautiful (2009)

Despite the dents, smile…life IS beautiful! This full album makes for the icing on the cake as the others have laid the rock solid foundation. Clearly Niccole’s vocals and guitar playing have grown to radiant form and she is “into [her own] skin” as she puts it from the title track “Life is Beautiful”. Variety is also notebly known on this collection spanning from pop, bluegrass, jazz, and dare say even funk-blues. The most formiddable style Niccole and Mo excell at however, is their vocally intertwining acoustic ballads.

These are the “heart clinchers” that grab listeners by the ears and tug on their emotional center. This is an album that draws you in for the lessons of life. Not only will the melody and vocal beauty carry the listener, but the lessons of the songs ring so clearly one can’t help but reflect and ponder the very essence of what it means to “live” and “live fully”. Life is, indeed beautiful but it doesn’t always appear that way. It is often in disguise just as the clouds can cover the sun.

This album reminds us that rain is not a personal affront to our day. The pendulum swings and with a bit of humor at the end laughter opens the heart one more notch. This record is too good not to have, a grand-mama worthy of “yoda” respect!

Recorded 2009 Dedicated in memory of Percie Griffith.