Inara George's 2005 solo album All Rise was a well receieved piece of singer-songwriterdom. Odd, then, that George (daughter of the late Lowell George of Little Feat) seems in no hurry to resume her solo career. Instead, since All Rise, she's shown a tendency to find cool guys to collaborate with. The Bird and the Bee found George making retro lounge music with Greg Kurstin, who has tickled the keys for many hip musicians, including Beck. An Invitation finds George chumming it up with Van Dyke Parks, the legendary musican who has worked with everyone from the Beach Boys to Joanna Newsom. Talk about being friends for life: Parks was present when George was born. George looks even farther back here than the Bird and the Bee's '60s fetish. Think Sinatra and such classic pop acts.

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