Bob Dylan records a Christmas album

Enigmatic folk-rocker Bob Dylan is reported to be recording an album of Christmas songs including interpretations of Here Comes Santa Claus and the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem, and could end up in a chart battle with Pope Benedict XVI this festive season.

The 68-year-old musician is usually very much his own man and famously outraged his followers when he 'went electric' in 1965. His latest venture is unlikely to create such strong feelings but it will still come as a surprise to his fans.

Rumours of the album surfaced on the website of Dylan-devoted Isis magazine, and it later reported that songs had been recorded in Jackson Browne's studio in Santa Monica, California, in May.

Other musicians including David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, who played accordion on Dylan's latest album Together Through Life, were involved in the sessions said Isis.

Dylan, whose real name is Robert Zimmerman, was born into the Jewish faith, but became a born-again Christian from 1979 to 1981, and released three religious-themed albums. One of them, Slow Train Coming, is regarded as one of his best.

Author Scott Marshall who wrote the book God and Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life said that Dylan would be unconcerned by initial reactions to the project. "He's both never renounced being Jewish or renounced his experience with Jesus some three decades ago," he added.

Dylan is by no means the first Jewish artist to record a seasonal album, Neil Diamond, Phil Spector and Irving Berlin, have all done the same. However, in the race up the album charts this Christmas Dylan has some serious competition from the likes of Jay-Z, Susan Boyle and Pope Benedict XVI who is recording an album of chants to be released at the end of the year.