Ward was working on the soundtrack for the film The Go-Getter, co-starring actress Zooey Deschanel, when Director Martin Hynes suggested Ward and Deschanel record a duet for the movie. Ward later referred to the collaboration as "a fruitful, creative experience." Deschanel soon sent Ward demos of songs she had written, and the two formed the pop duo She & Him to record together, with Deschanel writing the songs and Ward composing the music. The duo's first album Volume One — which Ward produced – was released on Merge Records on March 18, 2008. Volume One found critical and commercial success for Deschanel and Ward's pop music. The album reached No. 31 on Billboad's Top 200, and Metacritic has the critical album reviews aggregated to 76 out of 100, or "generally favorable reviews." She & Him's second album, Volume Two, was released on Merge in 2010. Volume Two peaked at No. 6 on Billboard's Top 200, outperforming their first release. A Very She & Him Christmas was released October 25, 2011 on Merge Records, peaking at No. 12. After a break, She & Him released their third album of original songs, Volume 3 in 2013 followed by a collection of standards, Classics, in 2014. Both albums also charted and were released on Merge. In 2016 they released their second christmas album, Christmas Party. Monsters of Folk Monsters of Folk is a project formed by Ward, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, and Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes. The four had been touring and playing together at various points throughout the 2000s and regularly talked of making an album together. The result, the eponymous Monsters of Folk, was released in September 2009. Monsters of Folk received "generally favorable reviews" with an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic. Prefix's Dave Clark said of the supergroup that "The players on Monsters of Folk complement each other extremely well. There is definitely something to be said for group chemistry. These songs don't always shine the way they could, but the album is a great effort." Monsters of Folk was a commercial success, peaking at No. 15 on Billboard's Top 200. Other artists He has performed on recordings by Brian Wilson, Kim Deal, Giant Sand, Cat Power, Neko Case, Beth Orton (with whom he co-wrote the title track to her album Comfort of Strangers), The Court & Spark, Bright Eyes