(Everloving)

www.everloving.com

The recent arrival on the scene of the excitingly unadorned, vibrato-less voices of Inara George and Eilen Jewell almost makes 2008 feel like a return to the '50s/'60s heyday of premier jazz songbirds Anita O'Day, Blossom Dearie and June Christy (and recent torchbearer Diana Krall). George and Jewell, both in their late 20s, are blessed with pipes that would sound great someday mining the rich American pop-ballad mother lode from the '40s and '50s, yet each has chosen, so far, to till different fields.

While Jewell veers between honky tonk, folk and western swing, George, daughter of legendary Little Feat frontman Lowell George who died in 1979 at age 34, has enlisted one of her dad's pals, Van Dyke Parks, to pen opulent scores for her debut longplayer. Parks, now a mythical L.A. music figure for his early solo work and collaborations with Randy Newman, Tim Buckley and Brian Wilson (on onetime lost Beach Boys epic Smile), gives George's dramatic voice plenty of Off Broadway-style clout on "Right As Wrong," "Accidental" and "Duet." It's a nearly lost genre also celebrated by NYC's Sharp Things and precious few others.

After recent fab outings with Joanna Newsom and Rufus Wainwright, Parks and his newfound protégé George go together like rambling through the park and shadowboxing in the dark—or taking a kayak to Quincy or Nyack. It's a March/October love match that definitely demands an early encore. 

Standout Tracks: "Right As Wrong," "Accidental" JUD COST