http://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2011-06-17/girlie-action-beautiful-mistake-uncovering-stones-heroine-wound-and-will/

Rated Number 9 between CIVIL WARS & EMMY LOU HARRIS Following a long-run in the Houston/San Antonio-based folk duo Sisters Morales, Lisa Morales steps out with an astonishingly beautiful solo debut that is as cathartic as it is devastating in its fearless confrontation of grief (a double-whammy dose over both the loss of a parent and a relationship in apparent dire straits). The whole record is littered with pieces of broken heart, but even when she declares “I Am the Weakest,” “Fool That I Am” or “You Forgot to Love Me,” Morales’ words and voice resonate with strength and resilience. And in “Looking for Something Beautiful,” she storms out of the depths of despair with the most defiant, cheer-worthy cry of stubborn hope this side of Lucinda Williams’ “Passionate Kisses.” Richard Skanse

This is the kind of songwriting that provides a lust for life even in the face of death. It provides love in a field of heartbreak. It is provides heaviness in the light and jazz in the mundane. Lisa Morales, formerly of the Sisters Morales, is dealing with some heavy topics in this album, yet it is one of her best creations to date. With creativity and an unfaltering dedication to the music, Morales and backing musicians create something that will keep you toe-tapping the entire album through. The Mexican-American feel of Sisters Morales isn't as explicit on this album, but influences of country and a multitude of instrumental sounds make this as diverse as anything else she's been a part of.

Lisa Morales—Beautiful Mistake 
2011, Zaino Records
 This album marks Lisa Morales’ beautiful first step away from her sister Roberta and Sisters Morales. It turns out that Lisa has been a diva in disguise. She sings the love songs of a strong grown woman in a voice that demands that you look her in the eye. One imagines her singing a roadhouse into rapt attention. The rhythm section rocks hard when it needs to, led by Michael Cornbread Traylor on bass. All of the songs are superbly crafted with verbal and aural hooks. The Tex-Mex influences are not as apparent as they are in her work with her sister, but the years of playing live give her music a Texas flavor delivered with an air of authority. “You Forgot To Love Me,” a quiet ballad with a memorable slide guitar drone is a striking change of pace, highlighting Morales’ simple but elegant lyrical style. “You’ve got to fill up the passion jar or I won’t breathe/ You’ve got to touch me if you’re sleeping next to me.” This is a very complete work from a woman whose talent demands the spotlight. —Michael Devlin

Lisa Morales Beautiful Mistake Zaino Make no mistake, Lisa Morales’ Beautiful Mistake is the masterwork of a songwriter taking life’s trag- edies — its disappointments and those desperate midnight-hour stares into the soul — and turning them into personally cathartic, yet universally reverberating, songs. This is much more real than a peek into the journal of a forlorn, heartbroken twentysomething. Morales gives us the hard-earned honest emotions that only a far wiser women with new perspectives on life and love would be willing to wear so proudly on her sleeve. Morales wrote the material on Beautiful Mistake in the wake of both her mother’s death and the dissolution of her marriage. “Fool That I Am” finds Morales taking stock of both events (“Here it is more than a year and I’m finally waking up“). On “They’re Gone,” she mourns the departure of both mother and husband as well as the futile realization of fate (“I can’t stop this all from happening — goodbye”). But it’s not simply “woe is me” from Morales. “Wanna Be in Love” may well be the sexiest song this side of Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” Produced by Michael “Cornbread” Traylor with contributions from the likes of Walt Wilkins, Scrappy Jud Newcomb, Dustin Welch and Matt Giles, Beautiful Mistake emanates unblemished truth from beginning to end. GLeaSON BOOTH Texas Music Magazine