Friday Mix Tape: Just Duet

We’ve been slacking on our Friday Mix Tapes of late, but fear not loyal HT readers – we think this week’s fantastic mix will make up for its recent absences. This week’s batch of tasty tunes is dedicated to the seemingly lost art of the duet, with a number of my favorites from the last few years. So without wasting anymore time with this intro, let’s just get at it…

We kick things off with the only song here that is not a duet, but the one that that inspired this whole mix: John Prine’s Donald & Lydia, which I caught Deer Tick and Liz Isenberg covering in San Francisco. This version comes from the appropriately titled John Prine Live. From there we’ve got the aforementioned acts dueting on Friday Xiii, from the brilliant Born On Flag Day. Next up, we’ve got one of my favorite tunes off Wilco (The Album), the sublime pairing of Leslie Feist and Jeff Tweedy on You & I.

Then, we’ve got Norah Jones collaborating with Ryan Adams on Dear John from the underrated album of Adams’ trifecta of 2005 releases – Jacksonville City Nights. We follow that up with Jenny Lewis and Elvis Costello pairing up for Carpetbaggers from Acid Tongue. Finally, we close things out with one of the all time classic duets – Islands In The Stream. This version comes from MMJ’s epic New Years Eve show at Madison Square Garden and features Nicole Atkins and Jim James bringing down the house. Did we miss any? Leave your favorite current contemporary duet in the comments.