You Gotta Hand It to Suzi Shelton

Suzi Shelton wants to be your mom's cool friend. You know, the one who plans the sleepovers and makes up games and brings her guitar to the cookout so everyone can sing together. On her new CD, HAND IN HAND, Suzi delivers her final thesis and presents the remaining evidence so listeners can agree – all hail cool mom.

In addition to recording and live performances, Suzi maintains a busy interactive schedule with "Sing With Suzi," her YouTube channel (15,000 subscribers). And for an even more personal experience, her website lists "Skype With Suzi," which is a good reason the kids shouldn't have access to credit cards (or your Venmo account).

HAND IN HAND continues the Shelton mix of easy-to-understand lyrics and toe-taping arrangements. It's also the rare exception where there is no direct title track. HAND IN HAND serves more as an overall theme to the nine songs, from "Put Your Hands in the Air" to CD-closer "We Shall Walk," written by her daughter, Emma. Instead of simple parental declarations of adoration, HAND IN HAND urges kids to learn, grow, develop individual personalities, and embrace what makes them truly special. "Can You Feel the Power" is a preteen-Parkland motivational song:

Live your life with passion and fire
If you don't feel it now then go get inspired
Don't wait and don't hesitate
Hate we can devour, that's your superpower

Special guests on HAND IN HAND include Grammy winner Tim Kubart, Vered Ronson (whose own CD is coming next week), and Amelia Robinson (Mil's Trills). But HAND IN HAND is more about kid power than star power. A few of the songs, such as "The Grass Is Always Greener" (Tim's song) skew notably towards toddlers. But current Kids Place Live single "Raindrop" is a definite age-defying earwig. The power of positivity grows in every child and Suzi encourages you to embrace and meet that challenge, hand in hand.

HAND IN HAND is available on May 11 from Suzi's website, Soundcloud, Spotify, Amazon, and iTunes.  In the meantime, you can attend the free Facebook Live debut of the CD on Thursday, May 10. Here's the link.

Here is the video for the song, "Raindrop":