Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell

The Johnny and June Carter Cash biopic Walk the Line hits the big screen this month. But if you want to see some real country-music chemistry in action, put your money on Caitlin Cary and Thad Cockrell. The North Carolina comrades’ new collaboration, Begonias, is a throwback to the golden era of Nashville duets. Cary, an alum of Ryan Adams’s old group, Whiskeytown, honed her heartbreaking drawl over the course of two acclaimed solo albums, while the Willie Nelson-inspired Cockrell has been heralded as the man who brought hurt back to country. Fittingly, Begonias blooms with all the mournful twang, hangdog harmony and sly humor of Nashville’s best somebody-done-somebody-wrong songs. Cary and Cockrell has even been known to whip out a cover of Johnny and June’s classic “Jackson” on stage. Reese and Joaquin, take notes.