The most exciting aspect of Betty Johnson’s recent return to professional singing has to be her live performances.  Her shows mix fun and fancy with love and luxury.  Betty draws from her pop smashes of the 1950s – “I Dreamed” and “Little White Lies” – and summons the true beauty of her voice with standards such as Bart Howard’s “My Love is a Wanderer” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “I Have Dreamed.”  After seeing or hearing a Betty Johnson show one feels dappled with beauty and warmth.

And there’s more.  On occasion – and in this live recording entitled Soft Lights and Sweet Music – Betty invites daughter Lydia to share the stage.  Lydia – who can hold her own in any nightclub – re-defines the concert, caressing lovely standards such as “You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To” and “You Are There.”

Reviews of Betty Johnson’s live appearances are this album’s best endorsements:

Soft Lights and Sweet Music: as gracious and elegant a cabaret evening as you are likely to encounter. – The Free Press

The bar-none best part of show was a duet – “Precious Memories” – a spiritual sung a cappella. – The New York Post

Like mother, Betty Johnson, daughter Lydia Gray sings with warmth and tasted the great American popular standards.  – WQEW Radio

The two blend so seamlessly, with such a smooth vocal line, that it’s almost like listening to one voice.  -- Backstage

Track listings:

1. Blues Skies 2. Sometimes I'm Happy 3. Side by Side 4. Deed I Do 5. Let Me Love You 6. I Have Dreamed 7. I'm Confessin' 8. The First Warm Day in May 9. My Love Is a Wanderer 10. Medley: I Dreamed/Little White Lies 11. Time After Time 12. `S Wonderful 13. You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To - Gray, Lydia

14. When I Look in Your Eyes - Gray, Lydia 15. Twisted - Gray, Lydia 16. Teach Me Tonight - Gray, Lydia 17. You Are There - Gray, Lydia 18. Shall We Dance? - Gray, Lydia 19. You're Just in Love 20. Country Roads 21. Whispering Hope 22. Lullabye 23. When I Grow Too Old to Dream 24. Precious Memories 25. Baubles, Bangles and Beads 26. [Untitled]