Sammy Hagar Shares Christmas Jam With Grateful Dead Stars

12-22-2025

Sammy Hagar took to social media this morning (December 22nd) to spread a little Christmas cheer in the form of a video of a jam of the song "Santa's Going South For Christmas" with Grateful Dead stars Bob Weir and Mickey Hart.

The Red Rocker shared, "Here's a throwback to the 2010 debut performance of this holiday classic, recorded for a benefit for Sammy's hometown organizations, Homeward Bound, Ritter Center, and 142 Throckmorton Theatre. The event included tacos & margaritas, a screening of the Cabo documentary 'Go There Once, Be There Twice', and an acoustic concert!"

"Santa's Going South" was officially released as a duet with the late great Toby Keith. Sammy's website shared this history behind the track, Originally written in 2010 just in time to debut at a holiday fundraiser benefiting Homeward Bound, The Ritter Center and 17 Throckmorton, Sammy & The Wabos were joined in a live performance by fellow Marin residents and Grateful Dead musicians Bob Weir and Mickey Hart of The Grateful Dead. Sammy then teamed up with buddy Toby Keith for the 2011 holiday season, making this a duet as the pair share verses and the song was given a proper release.

In 2014, Sammy performed the song live with friend Nancy Wilson for the Heart & Friends: Home For The Holidays special.

In 2015, Sammy performed a live version of the song with Hawaiian musician Willie K for Alice Cooper's New Year's Eve fundraiser for Maui Food Bank.

In 2019 the song was released as a special picture disc for Record Store Day, with the b-side an unreleased live version of "Eagles Fly" from the 2019 Sammy Hagar & The Circle tour.

In 2021, Sammy & The Circle recorded a version as part of the Lockdown Sessions.

Watch the video below and find links to the various versions here: