Kevin Morby, whose latest album City Music was a brilliant, technicolor tribute to LA and its warm solitude , understands the strangeness of a hot-weather holiday. He was raised in Kansas City, where the nights get cold in winter and the snow is often real. So his version of Billy Hayes and Jay W Johnson’s holiday staple “Blue Christmas”—made famous by Elvis Presley—is warm and trippy, underpinned by a minimal beat and sung through an karaoke drawl.

Kyle and I have spent Christmas together for the past two years, so I thought it appropriate to record a Chris Kringle jam with him in his home studio. On Christmas Day Kyle [Thomas, King Tuff] usually dresses like an elf and skips around and screams "Christmas!" Every five minutes or so. Christmas in LA is a funny thing, it's usually about 65 degrees and sunny out so it always feels a little psychedelic that's it's actually Christmas day, after growing up in the Midwest where it usually snows, or at the very least is very cold. But there's something special about celebrating the Holidays in the sun. Anyways Kyle and I chose "Blue Christmas" because I wanted to pretend I was Elvis for an afternoon, and we had a great time making it. Truth be told, the whole thing was a Christmas Miracle.