Inara George: Trouble
[purchase]
Inara George never really knew her father, Little Feat founder, frontman, and primary songwriter Lowell George - he died when she was five, leaving a young Inara to be raised by her mother. But having Jackson Browne as a godfather, and Van Dyke Parks as a family friend, kept her connected to the arts in her blood: she trained to be an actress, and after a high school reunion jam session led to a major label contract, a career in her father's footsteps seems to have inevitably followed.
I love the poignant, delicate way young, pre-fame Inara takes on this track, recorded as the final track for her father's tribute album in 1997, trading the slow, steady heartbeat of her father's original for smooth balladry and strings. And if you want to hear more from this wry, clear-voiced siren, there's plenty to find: though her first band's sole album is out of print for good reason, her early post-millennium work with Merrick was featured in episodes of (and soundtracks for) Felicity and Grey's Anatomy; fifteen years later, her current bands The Bird and the Bee and retro-girl-group The Living Sisters are all the rage in indie circles.
I know that our Heritage theme wasn't intended to provide comparison between parents and their progeny. It's rare for artists to cover their own parents, after all. But as our theme this week will feature songs with the word "trouble" in the title, I've also included the 1971 Little Feat original as a bonus. After all, it's Lowell's song, to begin with.
Little Feat: Trouble
[purchase]
