Worlds truly do collide on this double set from Chris Stamey. The North Carolina-born multitasker’s career stretches back nearly four decades, to when he and the like-minded Peter Holsapple formed The dB’s, a terrific band that helped kick-start the power-pop movement amid the punk revolution. Since then, Stamey has acted as solo artist, producer, collaborator, sideman and more, extending his musical tentacles in many directions. But even to his most observant fans, this new project has to come as a surprise. Inspired by the Great American Songbook, New Songs for the 20th Century presents an alternative universe of sorts, one in which the lush, orchestral gems penned by the likes of Cole Porter, Irving Berlin and the Gershwin brothers—which traditionally found their way to the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald—are instead the sole creations of Stamey and sung by contemporary vocalists like Nnenna Freelon, Caitlin Cary and Django Haskins, as well as some of Stamey’s rock-world compatriots, such as Marshall Crenshaw and Don Dixon. Fleshing it all out are sympathetic players including pianist Ariel Peacock, guitarists Nels Cline and Bill Frisell, and saxophonist Branford Marsalis. Stamey and his considerable crew (more than 30 musicians in all) take the challenge at hand quite seriously, delivering exceedingly well-crafted neo-standards—some, like “On the Street Where We Used to Live” and “The Woman Who Walks the Sea,” seem oddly familiar on first listen. If the world were a different place, then they would form the foundation of the next chapter in the Songbook.