I know what you are thinking.

Peace? Colors?

The 21^st century is fast becoming a wacky place: Peak Oil, climate change, U.S. imperialism, a Global War on Terror that will not end in our lifetimes, predatory Wall Street financier capitalism, electile dysfunction, socioeconomic inequality, rampant racial and gendered injustice, a 2016 U.S. presidential election featuring a “choice” between a millionaire narcissistic racist sociopath and a billionaire pro-corporate aggressively neoliberal imperial war hawk, and to confound it all, a decided lack of snow here in Mad River Valley last winter.

We are all feeling the burn.

And yes, even though our Vermont summer has been glorious, it can be hard to get out of bed in the morning.

Winter is Coming.

But the Kids? They’re gonna be Alright.

Need proof?

Look no further than Mad River Valley youthful fab foursome’s new CD project COLORS.

Anyone who’s been out and about in the MRV over the past two years knows Peace In The Valley (PIVA), a hard-charging jammy’licious band of brothers comprised of Benjamin Burr, Eli Leppla, Enzo Cormier, and Colin Holter (the youngest of the crew) – and occasionally backed up by plenty of other talent, young and old.

COLORS, recorded in the town of Charlotte at venerable Vermont studio Lane Gibson Recording and Mastering, is infused with all of the great musical influences you’d expect from young musicians growing up in the Green Mountains, those riffs, licks, and themes that haunt the turntables, cassette tapes, and CD collections of us slightly older listeners: the Dead (play it, Jerry), Phish (of course!), Santana, Widespread Panic, and even some throwbacks to older and pop’ier time. I swore, listening to this wonderful CD over a several week span, that I heard a little Prince a bit of Everly Brothers, and even some Lowell George’iness from the early days of Little Feet.

At day’s end, though, with COLORS, PIVA have crafted a musical 11 song tapestry all their own. They come out rocking with “Time Won’t Wait,” get instrumental on “Kaleidoscope,” and by track 3, a signature tune on COLORS called “Honey Blonde,” they find their sonic sweet spot with a well-crafted lengthy and delightfully listenable number. It just gets better from there, with highlights including an homage to Santana (“Portugal – the Woman”), the hooky “Alright,” and the sweet “Ballad of Judas and Mary.” I’ve had a hard time prying their CD out of my CD player – their music tucks in nicely for any occasion.

I’ll end with a story that still makes me tear up. Last spring, on a beautiful, sunny, clear Friday morning, I attended a climate change rally in front of the Statehouse in Montpelier with my professor hat on. Hundreds of high school and college students from all over the state were in attendance, peacefully marching down from the hill by the Vermont College of Fine Arts College campus into town and gathering on the steps in front of our beautiful statehouse.

Welcoming them in? None other than our own Peace In The Valley, throwing their beautiful music forth from that tiny stage like sonic bolts of energy, in 4/4 time, notes that bounced off the government buildings above my head and then back at the statehouse, where the sound reverberated once again back into the crowd.

Then and there, with the youthful musical energy of PIVA setting the stage for an inspired morning of collective next-generation activism on behalf of our Planet, I lost track of time, space and worry for a few short minutes.

Our kids? As long as they have music, each other, and an habitable planet on which to live, they’re gonna be alright. Thanks, Peace In The Valley, for sharing.

Rob Williams lives and works out of Vermont’s Mad River Valley, and is the publisher of The Vermont Independent.