With Christmas just around the corner, some of DiS' favourite artists - including The Shins, Andrew Bird, Calexico, and Rufus Wainwright & Sharon Van Etten - have got involved in a brand spanking new compilation of seasonal songs called 'Christmas Rules' (or 'Holidays Rule', if you live across the pond...)

We got a few of those involved to tell us about their favourite Christmas songs...

James Mercer of The Shins

Have you ever recorded a Christmas or holiday song before?

No. I really love so many Christmas songs but no one has ever asked me to record one. Maybe it's my years worshiping Satan... I don't know.

Why did you select 'Wonderful Christmastime' for your contribution to Christmas Rules?

It was a song that I had heard recently and kept looping in my head. I also thought it would be interesting to hear it produced in a different way from the original. It seemed open to interpretation.

How did you approach the recording of "Wonderful Christmastime"? Did you have a vision or arrangement for the song before recording?

I first sat with Richard Swift and started picking the chords apart. We made a few changes to the structure and just started playing with arrangements. Richard had a lot to do with this aspect.

Was Holiday music a big part of your childhood?

It was. My Dad always had a Teac reel to reel and we would listen to recordings he had made when we lived in Hawaii of the KUMU Christmas show. It was back in the early seventies when I was just a baby. So no matter where we lived we would always be taken back to the very beginnings of the family at Christmas time. "You're listening to KUMU from the grounds of the Hilton Hawaiian Village" and then 'White Christmas' or something would play. My heart aches just thinking about it.

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Joey Burns of Calexico

What is your all-time favorite Christmas song and why?

My favorite Christmas song is Vince Guaraldi Trio 'Christmas Time is Here'. I love the feel of this tune and performance of jazz piano, upright bass and brushes on drums. This is exactly the remedy that we all need during the Holiday Season, something to help everyone relax and take it easy.

My favorite Christmas album is New England Christmastide. This is an all instrumental album with mostly folk instrumentation (banjo, mandolin, violin, guitar) and solid performances. You recognize the songs easily but the melodies take you to another place. I remember hearing the cassette of this album in my parents' kitchen in 1991 and being impressed that a group of simple acoustic instruments could capture these well known songs in another light. The understated performances is what drew me in. This is also where I heard the version of 'Green Groweth The Holly' that made me want to cover this song for the current compilation.

What is your fantasy Christmas cover - who would you most like to hear sing your favorite Christmas songs and what would you hope it to sound like?

I would love to cover John Lennon's 'Happy Christmas (War is Over)'. Seems like his material is always fitting regardless of the holidays, and I love the Beatles tradition of recording Christmas songs every year. I would hear them on radio growing up in Los Angeles. To hear the phrase 'War is Over' sung in as many languages as possible would be a precious gift.

Why do you love Christmas?

I love being with family and reaching out to others at the end of the year. It's a time to reconnect and relax. There is a quiet in the air on those holidays that feels so right.

Eleanor Friedberger

What is your all-time favorite Christmas song and why?

Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) by The Ramones because it's Joey Ramone AND Christmas in an unexpected combination, and not too much Christmas.

What is your fantasy Christmas cover – who would you most like to hear sing your favorite Christmas songs and what would you hope it to sound like?

I'd like to hear Bob Dylan sing anything on the Phil Spector Christmas album, and I'd hope it sounded nothing like Dylan's Christmas album of a year or two ago.

A few sentences about why you love Christmas songs, early Christmas memories, etc.

Why I love Christmas songs? Actually now that I think about it, I'm not sure I do. Does anyone?

Christmas Rules is out now and features contributions from Paul McCartney, The Shins, Andrew Bird, Rufus Wainwright & Sharon Van Etten, Calexico and many more.