We all admire people, and most of the time we admire them for the same reasons. They are talented, they have a special gift, they are persistent, and you can tell they love what they do. And they are nice people.

When you admire someone with talent and persistence and they are also nice, you are hooked.

This is a story more than ten years in the making, and it is about a Nice and Persistent couple that you may have never heard of, but sooner or later you will see them in a spotlight. How do I know? Read on.

Unless this is your first weblog, you know that the quote above from Calvin Coolidge is my all-time favorite.

• But the quote dismisses talented people who are not persistent.
• It also dismisses geniuses who are not persistent.
• It dismisses those who are educated but not persistent.

But what happens when persistence is combined with talent? Could that be 'persistence squared?"

I think it is. Using your talents, (and tapping into your genius, while using your education) to live your life is pretty cool, but using all those elements is probably pretty rare.

But do you know what is just as rare?

People working in a job they truly love. Oh, I know, millions of people ‘like’ their jobs, and even ‘love’ a day, a week, or a month of their job. But how many people wouldn’t want to do anything else other than what they were doing? I still wish I was a catcher for the Boston Red Sox.

So, professional athletes might fall into that 'love what I'm doing all the time' category, and probably some teachers. But I don’t think garbage collectors or prison guards or truck drivers or television weather personalities in New England love every aspect of their jobs.

What would you do if you could customize 100% of how you spend your day, so you were doing only the things you love to do?

And what would it look like if you had your day customized and you were persistent and talented in your specialty?

I know a couple of people who meet all those criteria, and I can confirm that the lifestyle and day-to-day world is exactly what they want, including the trajectory they are on.

The criteria? They love to travel, and they love to play music for an audience. 

Their names are Jilly Martin and Ryan Brooks Kelly, and they are New England based country music artists., "Martin & Kelly."

With the understanding that New England is not exactly a hotbed of country music, there are still plenty of fans who prefer lyrics you can understand focusing on love, break ups and pick-up trucks.

Martin and Kelly are an acoustic duo, and they also have a band for bigger shows. They are also a couple. They are a special couple because they ‘work and play’ together, which is a well-established formula to get on each other’s nerves.

But for more than a decade, and more than 1,000 shows together, they are still on speaking terms, and likely more than that.

I’m not sure I could do what they do: it takes special people to spend that much time together and have the relationship grow rather than deteriorate. But their relationship is only one thing I admire about them. I like their persistence and determination. They are determined to expand their careers as country music artists.

Did I mention that they love to play music for an audience? Those audience sizes have ranged from a very small crowd at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square (we were there) to the 9,000 fans in the stands at the Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion in Guilford (we were there too).

They have an upcoming show at the Kick'n Up Kountry festival this summer that includes Little Big Town and other top acts in Karlsbad, Minnesota in front of up to 14,000 people. (We will not be there).

Who have they already opened for, played with, hung around backstage with or written songs with you ask?

How about Willie Nelson, Deana Carter, Randy Travis, Lonestar, Alison Krauss, Alabama, Dwight Yoakum, Brothers Osborne, Bonnie Rait, Little Big Town, The Bacon Brothers (yes, that Kevin Bacon), Kip Moore, Chris Jansen, the Oakridge Boys, the Band Perry, Phil Vassar, LOCASH, Eric Paslay, Jana Kramer, and Lorrie Morgan.

But as I mentioned, their persistence and determination are not the only things I admire. I also like their talent.

Jilly sings Shallow better than Lady Gaga and I can guarantee it.

I can also honestly say that Ryan is absolutely, positively, one of the biggest guitar geeks in America.

He owns at least ten, maybe twelve, maybe fifteen guitars, (that he will admit to) and is absolutely, positively, one of the fussiest people in America about the sound system at their shows.

He probably knows more about sound than an engineer at Bose.

He is so talented, that sometimes when he plays guitar, even if I am in the front row, his fingers move too fast for the human eye.

Persistence combined with Talent.

They have it all.

You may be asking how I know so much about Martin and Kelly? 

Since 2012, my son, Joe and I have seen them play more than 200 times in Tennessee, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Massachusetts.

As mentioned, we’ve seen them play in tiny venues, and on big stages. We’ve seen them as headliners and openers.

We've also taken a photo with them at every show (except one) in that time.

We’ve also seen them help us raise thousands of dollars for non-profit organizations.

It all started when we first ran into Jilly in Franklin, Tennessee at a little BBQ joint where she was playing an Artist Round with two other aspiring singers.

From there, when we learned she lived in Massachusetts, we started following her and attending her shows. She joined forces with Ryan, when he needed a female vocalist for a duet he was recording. They have been inseparable ever since.

Today, we don’t see them as much as we used to. As their career trajectory continues to grow, they have turned into a national act and play all over the country in country music venues and at festivals. And we don’t travel as much as we used to.

These days, I think, they 'visit' Massachusetts once in a while.

On one of those recent visits, we grabbed lunch with them to catch up, and left the restaurant with the following conclusions:

1. They still totally love what they are doing. You can tell because it is very hard to fake that.
2. They are persistent. They are not impatient, they ‘press on’ every week, every show.
3. They care about each other. Spending that much time together and being dependent on each other all day every day is a real test of caring.

But the biggest conclusion that we took away is that when you are doing something you love, it is worth it, and it is very much worth it to them.

And, of course, when you are persistent at what you do, it is only a matter of time before you reach your goals.

We have a deal with them that we proposed a decade ago. When they are on-stage at the Tennessee Titans Stadium in front of 50,000 people at the Country Music Fest in Nashville one day, we want to watch from backstage. I know it is going to happen, and I can’t wait to collect.

The reason that I am confident in this is: Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence, and adding talent to the equation is THE formula for success.

The slogan ‘press on’ has solved and always will solve the problems, and Martin & Kelly have added 'play on' to make their dreams come true.

Click the photo below to visit their website and learn more.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/martinandkelly

Instagram: www.instagram.com/martinandkelly

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@martinkellymusic