Amos Lee is a 32-year-old soul man with a voice that blends James Taylor and Bill Withers. Lee's singing is both seductive and a little anonymous, his persona often dissolving into a tasteful mix of predictable lyrics and buttery timbres. For that reason, like his labelmate Norah Jones, Lee is a great foil, and the standouts on his chart-topping fourth album — cut with cowboy-mystic indie rockers Calexico providing moody backup — are the cameo tracks. Lucinda Williams is a trembling lover on "Clear Blue Eyes." And on "Behind Me Now/El Camino (Reprise)," Willie Nelson drops in for a duet that's whiskey and cool water: a perfect mix.  

Listen to "Out of the Cold":

Gallery: The 20 Most Memorable Duets of All Time

“Time to Pretend”

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”