Darius Rucker’s new Home for the Holidays album features so much great seasonal music, but nothing stands out quite like his duet with Sheryl Crow on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”

And while it seems to be an obvious choice for a holiday collaboration with Crow, there’s a backstory to the selection.

Rucker says the decision to record the song was actually inspired by Elf, the holiday film starring Will Ferrell and Zooey Deschanel.

“I decided to do that (song) for one reason … for that movie and how great they did it when she’s taking a shower in the bathroom, and he comes and sits on the counter, and he’s singing along with her,” he said.

Well, you do occasionally hear artists say their greatest moments of creative inspiration happen in the bathroom.

Thank goodness, Rucker’s recording process with Crow didn’t happen that way. No bathroom vocal tracking here, folks, although the two singers were in the room together to cut the song in the studio. And while that may seem like a normal thing for two stars recording a duet, sometimes it isn’t. Vocalists often record their parts independently of each other.

Not this time. And Rucker was delighted he and Crow got to make musical magic the old fashioned way -- together in the studio.

“When we got Sheryl to come and do it … sitting there with her in the studio right next to each other singing it over and over and laughing and having a great time, I knew it was a great choice,” he says.