By WAYNE BLEDSOE, Scripps Howard News Service

There is no other guitarist like Leo Kottke -- either to listen to or to have a conversation with.

Lucinda Williams is a master at writing angry songs to ex-lovers, mournful ballads to lost friends and family, and songs that achingly illustrate the fear and uncertainty of opening up to new relationships. But there's another element that shows up, especially in her new album, "Blessed," that expresses something else.

Over the past few decades, Tom Jones seems to be perpetually cool, but it took a little time to overcome his initial image.

Every year around, oh August, my desk starts filling up with Christmas CDs. I put off listening to them until the week I write this yearly column. Usually, there are more audio lumps of coal than welcome gifts, but this year's crop has been especially good. Here's the rundown:

"O Holy Night," Jackie Evancho (Columbia)

Hayley Williams is well aware of the first impression people have of rock bands with female lead singers.

It starts in about August. My desk begins to fill up with Christmas and sometimes Hanukkah CDs. Three months later, I have a marathon to go through them and feel like the Grinch by the time I'm done. I didn't get the most-talked-about Christmas CD, Bob Dylan's "Christmas In the Heart," but I've heard enough to judge that it's not bad if you like Bob.

Bill Cosby isn't the same comedian he was 40 years ago.

Over the past 50 years, Joan Baez has been celebrated, denigrated, loved and hated. She stood up to foes and friends alike for causes she believed in.

The first time I saw Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks was on a PBS television program in the early 1970s. The TV picture was black-and-white, but it seemed like it was in color. Hicks and his all-acoustic band were performing amid a tropical motif with big fake palm trees and a beach scene as a backdrop.

The most enduring image of David Byrne is probably that of the skinny man nearly lost inside a seriously oversized suit. While Byrne sang in his characteristic yelp, the suit seemed to nearly swallow him.