Zooey Deschanel’s filmography is almost a tease for her growing discography.

Deschanel played older sis to Patrick Fugit’s underage rock journalist in “Almost Famous.” She crooned “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” in “Elf.” She led weirdly wonderful performance art rockers Munchhausen By Proxy in “Yes Man.”

Then, in 2008, the actress’ music flirtations became a torrid affair. She found a musical bond with singer/songwriter M. Ward during the filming of the 2007 indie flick “The Go-Getter,” which Ward scored. The resulting duo, She & Him, play the House of Blues on Thursday and Maine’s Nateva Festival on Saturday.

She & Him’s sound mirrors Deschanel’s honey-bunch, sweetie-pie, queen-of-quirky persona. Both their 2008 and 2010 records recall ’70s AM radio, ’60s girl group harmonies and ’50s pop. They also prove that not all actors make for embarrassing musicians. But Deschanel’s never feared the actor flop.

“It would be a trap to be scared by something as amorphous as that,” she said from her home in Los Angeles. “It’d be like being scared of a mythical creature. I’ve always played music and there’s no vanity in my music.

“My career as an actor was motivated a lot more by vanity,” she added with a laugh.

“I don’t even know any actors’ music other than Ricky Nelson,” she said, “and he’s amazing.”

While Deschanel admits a fetish for Nelson and early Beach Boys B-sides, she doesn’t think of her music as kitschy or retro.

But it certainly flirts with kitsch and retro. Her flat-but-fun vocals, Ward’s sparse production and the duo’s choice of covers push them toward camp. C’mon, who does the Miracles’ “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me,” the pop chestnut “Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now” and the Beatles “I Should Have Known Better”?

“I’m definitely inspired by all eras,” Deschanel said. “In the production process we definitely reference stuff from that early ’60s time period, that’s true. But we reference stuff from all time periods.”

Even with Deschanel doing the writing, Ward’s production and guidance are key to making the music work. In fact, it was Ward who made She & Him happen.

“It wasn’t so much that I was reluctant or even nervous to start a musical career,” she said. “But I was waiting for the right person to help me bring them out. Then, when it became clear Matt was the right person, I was worried he wouldn’t like the songs. Thank goodness he did.”

Without She, Him’s a busy man. He’s released seven solo albums and one disc with Monsters of Folk (his collaboration with My Morning Jacket’s Jim James and Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis) in the last decade.

But Ward digs Deschanel’s writing so much that a third volume by the duo will surface soon-ish. If anything, the collaboration is crowding Deschanel’s film career.

“It never felt like this was a one-off,” she said. “A lot of people assumed that and I don’t know why. Now we never had a five-year plan. Instead it was, ‘hey let’s record this’ and ‘hey, I’ve got more songs, let’s record more.’ It was all so fun why not keep doing it, right?” [SOURCE]