Melissa Etheridge, 'A New Thought for Christmas'

The buzz: Finally, a Christmas album for everybody else! So say the press materials for this new release from rocker, gay icon, cancer survivor, medical marijuana advocate and champion of various left-leaning causes, Melissa Etheridge. It’s safe to say that “everybody else” is meant to include anyone who, at this time of year, doesn’t break out the Mary Mary records and put up a manger scene in their front yard. This is Christmas for secular, “We Are the World” progressives and peaceniks.

The verdict: Two tracks here deliver on the title’s promise of presenting a new kind of holiday album: “Ring the Bells,” a duet with Pakistani singer Salman Ahmad (a heavy-handed way to deliver Etheridge’s one-world message of peace, but it works), and the album’s most affecting original, “Christmas in America,” about celebrating the holidays alone while a loved one is off fighting overseas. The rest of the disc offers up a handful of misty-eyed originals and some by-the-numbers covers, with one glowing exception: a scorching, bluesy version of “Merry Christmas Baby” (the one popularized by Elvis, not the Beach Boys) that serves as a welcome reminder that Etheridge is still as passionate about her music as she is about her causes.

Did you know? To protest passage of Proposition 8, which will ban gay marriage in Etheridge’s home state of California, the singer has announced that she plans to withhold her state tax returns.

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