Album: Various artists, The Beautiful Old (Doubloon)

A fascinating collection of songs from the 19th and early 20th centuries – the era before commercial recording, when a song stood or fell by its performance as domestic sheet music.

You'll know some of them, but by no means all. And you will certainly appreciate why the piano is the basis of each arrangement, frequently played by no less a figure than Garth Hudson. The cast list is huge: Richard Thompson, Heidi Talbot, Graham Parker, Kim Richey, Dave Davies, Kimmie Rhodes … lovely.