The Beautiful Old, by various artists

This project by producers Paul Mar­steller and Gabriel Rhodes is an ad­mirable tribute to pre–World War I popular music. Each singer is accompanied only by instruments from the song’s period. Richard Thomson’s sly baritone curls around “The Band Played On” like a handlebar mustache, while Graham Parker tackles “The Flying Trapeze” with saloon-and-sarsaparilla panache. And Jolie Goodnight’s “I Love You Truly”—crooned to the accompaniment of violin, piano and brushes—conjures visions of men in bowlers.