Inara George - Dearest Everybody (2018)

When she isn't exploring the intersection between jazz, tropicalia, and indie pop with the Bird and the Bee, vocalist Inara George enjoys a solo career as a talented singer/songwriter. At a young age, she was surrounded by the music of her father (Little Feat's Lowell George) and his illustrious peers -- Jackson Browne, Terry Allen, and Van Dyke Parks -- yet George never intended to follow in her late father's footsteps. Rather, theater was her forte, and George's younger years were spent performing Shakespeare in her native Topanga Canyon, a community in the Santa Monica mountains. She later relocated to Boston to study acting in the classical theater tradition.

While visiting home one summer, George and several high-school friends launched a band named Lode. To their surprise, the bandmates landed a deal with Geffen Records and released an EP, 1996's Legs & Arms. Before the decade's end, George joined Bryon Atkinson to form Merrick, an indie rock duo that released two albums before disbanding in 2002. Three years later, George struck out on her own by issuing her solo debut on Everloving Records. All Rise was produced by Michael Andrews (Donnie Darko, Freaks and Geeks) and feauterd musical contributions from Greg Kurstin, with whom George shared a mutual appreciation for old jazz standards and 1960s tropicalia tunes. The two formed the Bird and the Bee and released a self-titled album in 2006, followed by several EPs. While preparing for the duo's second full-length release, George also found time to return to her own project, teaming up with veteran producer (and family friend) Van Dyke Parks for 2008's An Invitation. She worked with The Bird and The Bee on 2010's Interpreting the Masters, Vol. 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates, and 2015's Recreational Love as well being featured on Foo Fighters' "Dirty Water” and Superfruit's "Everything" (which she co-wrote for their debut album Future Friends). In October of 2017, she announced a new album with the single "Young Adult," that expressed her younger self's feelings about her father’s death 38 years previous. The album, entitled Dearest Everybody (on her own label of the same name), was produced by Mike Andrews. On January 10 of 2018, she issued the poignant single and Jeremy Cohen-directed video for "Release Me," a visual metaphor for struggling with grief. It recounted her mother's plea for closure after the death of George's father, while exploring the transformative power of heartbreak. Dearest Everybody was released on January 19. ~ Andrew Leahey & MacKenzie Wilson