New Music From Inara George
Best known for her work in folk-pop and indie pop, Inara George is a musical shape-shifter whose voice has been celebrated for its clarity, nuance, and emotional precision. As a solo artist, she’s released acclaimed albums such as All Rise and Dearest Everybody; she is one half of The Bird and the Bee with Grammy-winning producer Greg Kurstin; and she’s a member of The Living Sisters alongside Eleni Mandell, Becky Stark, and Alex Lilly. George’s new album, Songs of Douglass and Littell, is inspired by the warmth of vintage jazz LPs, the intimacy of Brazilian classics like Elis & Tom, and the understated elegance of singers such as Helen Merrill, Astrud Gilberto, and Chet Baker. It is a tender reimagining of music first written more than 30 years ago by her longtime friends Eliot Douglass and Philip Littell. Littell has been recognized for his work as a librettist, penning lyrics for celebrated operas such as A Streetcar Named Desire and Girl With a Pearl Earring. His words explore the meeting point between vulnerability and wit, revealing the human heart in all its contradictions. Eliot Douglass, meanwhile, is a gifted composer and musician known for his adventurous harmonic sense and deep emotional resonance. Inara first met Littell as a child at Topanga Canyon’s Theatricum Botanicum, where her family was deeply woven into the theater’s creative community. In her early twenties, Littell introduced her to Douglass, his writing partner, and together they enlisted her as an actor in one of their original plays. The songs they created were intimate and alive, and they stayed with Inara long after those productions closed.
Much of the music on Songs of Douglass and Littell originated with No Miracle, A Consolation—a song cycle reflecting the grief, resilience, and humanity of the AIDS crisis that was written by Douglass and Littell along with Eric Cunningham in the early 1990s. These songs have found new life through George’s new interpretations. She also invited Douglass and Littell to write new material for the album, extending their creative conversation across decades. “A Tiny Girl,” for example, began with a composition Douglass had written as a teenager that Littell adorned with biographical lyrics that reflect Inara’s own life and creative journey. The orchestrations by Jeff Babko give the songs both space and depth, while production by Mike Andrews (Elgin Park) and engineering by Alexander Thompson brings an immediacy and intimacy that draws the listener in. Remarkably, the album was recorded live over just three days, capturing the spontaneity and closeness of musicians gathered in a room together. For Inara George, this project is both a reunion and a reinvention. It reconnects her with the voices and friendships that shaped her as a young artist while revealing new dimensions. With Songs of Douglass & Littell, she honors the creative bond between Eliot Douglass and Philip Littell and brings these long-forgotten songs into the light—tenderly, joyfully, and with a sense of homecoming.
“With subtle jazz inflections and an intimate singer-songwriter feel, ‘Tiny Girl’ lets George’s voice carry the emotional weight of a deeply personal collaboration across time.” – KCRW, Today’s Top Tune February 20, 2026
“[An] impressive release… George’s voice feels like a female version of Chet Baker… Babko supplies rich strings in support of George’s soft, fluffy and starry-eyed ‘The Well’ while showing her fragile side as she broods around the dramatic strings on ‘My Pour Is A Perfect Blue,’ with sensuous strings surrounding her on the shadowed samba of ‘La Lune S’en Va.'” – Jazz Weekly
“[The real miracle of Douglass and Littell’s work] is the power with which it salutes the resilience of the human spirit, which can endure untold loss with compassion and humor.” – LA Times
Recommended Tracks: Track 2, “La Lune S’en Va,” Track 3, “Ice Cream In Bed,” Track 4, “Tiny Girl”
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Label: Release Me Records
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