The singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist Kurt Vile has shared a new cover of the legendary Bob Dylan’s 2009 song “Must Be Santa.” The rendition was released as part of Spotify’s Singles Holiday Collection, featured alongside such artists as Meghan Trainor, Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus.

In his cover of the classic track, Vile is joined by his two daughters, who sing the song along with Vile. Speaking on his decision to cover “Must Be Santa,” Kurt Vile explains that “When I was asked to be on this Christmas compilation, they said ‘you can do any Christmas song you want, as long as it’s not repeated by somebody else on this series.’ I thought it was nice of them to invite me, but I didn’t know if I could pull off a Christmas song! Then my mind jumped to when John Agnello showed me the Bob Dylan version of ‘Must Be Santa’ while we were making the Smoke Ring for My Halo record. It’s a really hilarious video (he showed me that first), and it shows a rambunctious Christmas party. Bob Dylan has a wig on, and someone goes flying through a window. All this time, I thought it was Bob Dylan’s song. It’s really catchy, and he makes it his own as he usually does. I figured if I can do Dylan’s ‘Must Be Santa,’ if that’s not taken, it’s a sign.”

Vile notes that covering the song actually made him learn more about its history, noting that “I realized it was actually a classic Christmas song, and was written however long ago, but I still wanted to do it justice the way Bob did. I wanted to be the guy who attempted to pull it off.”

The musician goes on to describe how the song has connected with his own career and history as a musician: “This was also a great excuse to use my home studio OKV Central again, with my bandmate Adam Langellotti on bass, and Ted Young. Ted moved to Philly (he engineers with me a lot), but he was actually John Agnello’s assistant engineer back when I first heard Bob Dylan’s ‘Must Be Santa.’ It feels like a perfect circle, really.” Listen to Kurt Vile’s cover of “Must Be Santa” via Spotify below.

Kurt Vile has recently offered a cover of Townes Van Zandt’s classic track “Loretta” during a show in Santa Fe. In May, Vile released his latest album, (watch my moves).

Photo Credit: Stephen Hoffmeister