Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Add James Durbin to the list of Idols helping us get into the holiday spirit, even if Thanksgiving hasn’t arrived yet.

Yesteday, James and his band released a kick-butt version of “Santa Claus is Back in Town.”

Don’t confuse it with “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.”

This is an old Elvis tune, recorded way back in 1957.

“We had so much fun playing it that we decided to record it,” James writes in an email to fans.

James also writes that he’s in Nashville, busily working on writing and recording “amazing songs” with producer James Michael for an album he hopes to release in 2013.

“It’s really been a great, humbling experience,” James writes. “This is also the first time that we’ve written as a band (guitarist Blake Bunzel and drummer Jeff Fabb are pictured on the single cover), which has been great.”

Here’s a snippet of the “Santa Claus is Back in Town.”