The Circus Mexicus concert, typically held in May and October (although it's rumored to become a single yearly show in June), is part of an entire weekend of events — including pre- and post-show get-togethers — that blur the line between artist and fan.

A sort of Spring Break for the KB Home set, Circus Mexicus draws nearly 1,800 fans from Arizona and points beyond, who pay roughly $30 to stand in a fenced-in dirt lot surrounded by hotels, cantinas and the Sea of Cortez.

They mouth lyrics, raise Mexican beer bottles and high-five each other through a nearly four-hour performance.

The band's fan phenomenon includes devotees who wear sombreros and straw cowboy hats, need a calculator to compute how many times they've seen the group live, consistently consume new albums, and refer to the players by their first names.

The group's beloved but relatively obscure music is a poppy, barley-and-hops-soaked blend of Americana, rock and Southwest romanticism.

You can get a feel for Clyne's music through some of his song titles: "Mexican Moonshine," "Jack vs. Jose," "City Girls," "Maybe We Should Fall in Love," "Sonoran Hope & Madness."

Clyne's most well-known tune is a radio hit from his previous band, The Refreshments, called "Banditos," with a chorus that boasts of showing wildly false identification to a Mexican border guard.

While the music inspires hundreds to travel from as far as Missouri and Pennsylvania, the devotion the band shows its admirers also plays a role.

"That's what makes them," said Jennifer Camerota, 38, of the St. Louis area.

She said that Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers open up for you in a way massive acts like The Rolling Stones won't.

Throughout the Circus Mexicus weekend, the group makes time to listen to, speak with and interact with its fans, conveying an exceptional amount of gratitude.

"The fans are who we are," Peacemakers drummer P.H. Naffah said. "Without them, I don't have a job."

That day on the bus, Clyne wore an aqua button-down shirt, orange American Eagle cargo shorts, multiple necklaces, and a skull-themed bracelet and ring— a constant reminder of mortality, he said.

With his brown hair shoulder-length and stringy, Clyne came across as a laid-back hippie-cowboy — speaking in a somewhat raspy voice full of sun-drenched insights. Basically, he looked like the kind of guy who would blend right in with a Peacemakers audience.

Clyne's wife, Alisa, and kids attend his shows and were at this month's Circus Mexicus, although it's not as thrilling for them as for others.

"They're kind of over it," he joked.

Clyne calls himself "Captain Suburbia" and spends his days off in Tempe making sure his daughter, Lily, 9, and sons, Rusty, 9, and Otis, 11, have taken their vitamins and finished their homework.

Clyne was born in Tucson and lived here for three years before the family moved to Tempe. His mom and dad eventually divorced, and his father moved to a ranch in the Sonoita area.

Growing up, Clyne spent a lot of time on the ranch and also traveled to Rocky Point. JJ's Cantina, where his Circus Mexicus meet-and-greets happen, has been a hangout of his since high school.

Part of the strong connection the band has with its fans is due to honesty, humility and what Clyne called "a certain transparency people appreciate."

"They're real people," Phoenix's Tylissa Wagner, 32, said.

Aside from the tight artist-fan relationship, Wagner said, the sound of Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers is "real-life music— you can just relax to it."

Other fans love the variety of musical styles and strong songwriting.

"Some people find (the music) multifaceted. Some people find just entertainment," Clyne said. "Some other people find messages that are more artistic, more personal. It really depends on the listener, and that's how I like it. I don't want it to be just one thing."

Playing twice a year in Mexico, Clyne said, has more to do with authenticity than vacationing.

"So many of the characters I lean on in songwriting are the heroes and villains who pass so fluidly back and forth across the border," he said. "I just want to be able to walk our talk."

Naffah said he was more than skeptical when Clyne initially came to him about wanting to do a concert in Mexico.

"I was like, this thing is never going to fly," Naffah said.

At this last show, the band played an afternoon pre-show sound check as beer-toting fans cheered, shouted requests and danced around the fenced venue — an open-air dirt lot next to a bar called Sunset Cantina.

Brendt Tuttle watched from the outside with friends. The 44-year-old from Tempe said he'd been to at least 50 shows dating to Clyne's days with The Refreshments in the mid-'90s.

Though the group and its followers are associated with the Southwest, Clyne said "Peacemakers culture" is alive across the country, from New York to California.

The band covers a lot of ground through the year, bringing its music to the faithful.

In the weeks leading up to the Rocky Point show, the band pushed across the country with a demanding tour schedule that started at the House of Blues at Disneyland on Aug. 31, and included places like the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York City and Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater, Okla. They return to the road Nov. 7 with a show at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, Calif. That tour will take them through most of the Western states before returning home.

They play Arizona shows several times a year, from Flagstaff to the Old Pueblo. In Tempe, they typically rock the Marquee Theatre (though they are curiously set to play the Tempe Transit Center Dec. 27) and in Tucson, it's the Rialto Theatre.

Robin Conway, 53, a bartender at Tucson's Saddlehorn Saloon, said a customer, Ted Biggs, turned her onto the music about four years ago. She's seen Clyne several times a year since then, the last time at Circus Mexicus.

When he plays Tucson, she and some friends will rent a taxi van to take them from the bar to the Rialto shows.

Her one problem with Clyne's performances: "I wish they were longer."

Curtis McCrary, the Rialto's general manager, said Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers have played the Rialto two to three times a year since 2006 and consistently draw big turnouts.

"Among people I talk to about Roger Clyne, we talk about him like he's the Jimmy Buffet of the Southwest in a way," McCrary said. "Because there's sort of this cult following around him that's similar, even though the music is totally different."

The biggest problem the Rialto sees when the Peace Core invades is the odd smuggling of a flask of tequila, McCrary said.

Otherwise, it's just a festive working-class bunch of fans in their 30s and 40s who come to have a good time.

There's no sign that fan enthusiasm is waning.

"We're lifers," said Wagner, the fan from Phoenix. "We're going to keep coming as long as they keep playing."

Fans can mark their calendars for the next Circus Mexicus: It's June 6, 2009.

The band

At their best, Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers create poppy Americana anthems with sweeping widescreen hooks that speak from a rustic, deep, Southwestern soul.

Lyrically, the hallmarks of love and loss are wrapped in the scenery of Mexico, the desert and a lifestyle that says an open can of Tecate is better than no beer at all.

In concert is where the band is best experienced. There's something about a bunch of enthusiastic fans cheering and dancing along with Clyne's onstage charisma that a CD can't replicate.

The band has its own label, Emma Java Records, and is the only indie act to debut in the Top 10 on Billboard's Internet Sales chart for six consecutive albums — beginning with 1999's "Honky Tonk Union."

Artists on the fickle Billboard Top Internet Sales chart last week included legendary folk singer Bob Dylan, troubadour James Taylor and Brit-rock act Oasis.

Given how many artists had brief commercial exposure in the mid-'90s and then dropped off the radar completely, this was obviously never meant to be the fate of Clyne.

"He's such a driven and passionate individual in everything he does," said drummer P.H. Naffah, who has been with Clyne since The Refreshments. "Almost to a fault."

Clyne parlayed his small success from The Refreshments into a genuine, seemingly lifetime career with The Peacemakers, and one would imagine that bands in similar situations — be it Third Eye Blind, Dishwalla or even Arizona's Gin Blossoms — would kill for a fan base this devoted in 2008.

Here's a brief history of Clyne and his band's doings.

1993-94

Clyne, who graduated from Arizona State University and studied psychology and anthropology, is in a band called The Mortals. This group eventually becomes The Refreshments and releases its first album, "Wheelie," in 1994.

1995

The Refreshments play the annual South-by-Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, and are signed to a major label, Mercury Records. Around this time, drummer P.H. Naffah joins the band.

1996

"Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big & Buzzy," The Refreshments' major-label debut, is released and includes the national radio hits "Banditos" and "Down Together." Also around this time, Clyne writes and records the instrumental theme song to the hit animated series "King of the Hill" with The Refreshments.

1997

The Refreshments' follow-up to "Fizzy, Fuzzy," titled "The Bottle & Fresh Horses," is issued. The album doesn't sell as well as its predecessor. Mercury Records goes through some changes, including a shift in label management, and The Refreshments are dropped.

1998

The Refreshments split.

1999

The first Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers album, "Honky Tonk Union," is released. Clyne and Naffah formed the band by recruiting Gin Blossoms guitarist Scotty Johnson (who eventually left), guitarist Steve Larson and bassist Danny White. White was later replaced by Nick Scropos. The current lineup has been around since 2003.

2000

The first Circus Mexicus is held on the roof of the Sunset Cantina in Rocky Point, Sonora.

2002

Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers release "Sonoran Hope & Madness," which includes fan favorites like the title track, "Colorblind Blues" and "Sleep Like a Baby."

2004

"¡Americano!" is released and contains songs like "Counterclockwise," "Leaky Little Boat, "God Gave Me a Gun," and "Mexican Moonshine."

2007

"No More Beautiful World" is released with songs like "Hello New Day," "Maybe We Should Fall in Love" and "Lemons."

Also, the Arizona Diamondbacks debut a new theme song, "D-backs Swing," written by Clyne and performed with the Peacemakers. The song is played at home games.

2008

"Turbo Ocho," an album written and recorded in eight days in Mexico, is released in March.

The fans

Y ou're not going to score any hipster points for calling yourself a fan of Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers, but you'll likely have more friends.

At the pre-concert charity event at JJ's Cantina, the welcoming and boisterous Peace Core — median age well in the 30s — downed Mexican beer while sporting Peacemakers gear, Tommy Bahama T-shirts, summer dresses, crow's feet and sandals. Many devotees also had "RCPM" bumper stickers on their cars.

The Circus Mexicus weekend had a family reunion vibe to it.

"There's a lot of people I see at this concert that I can only see twice a year at the Peacemakers concert," said Jon Grayson, 39, a resident of the St. Louis area who keeps up with fellow fans on the Peacemakers' Web site message board. Fans also use the site to explore song meanings, discuss news, exchange gossip and recall band history.

Grayson had proposed to his girlfriend, Jennifer Camerota, 38, the night before the concert and still wore that glow on Sunday, along with a unmistakable Buffalo Bills poncho and straw cowboy hat.

"I like the idea that I can go to a concert and bring my family with me," said Urban Adams, 38, a Tempe resident who stood watching the band's sound check from a nearby parking lot. It was the fifth Peacemakers show he'd seen this year with his wife and three young daughters.

If you're a Peacemakers fan, you don't see a show. You see shows.

Many fans said they had seen between 15 and 50 shows going back to Clyne's days with The Refreshments.

"It's never repetitive," said Joanne Earley, 38, of Tucson. "(Clyne) plays a different set list every time."

"Musically," said Bryan Pogor, 36, of Austin, Texas, "his lyrics tell a story like no one else."

The weekend

Circus Mexicus isn't just a concert, it's an entire weekend's worth of events. We were there Oct. 10-12, and here's a look at some of what we found.

Friday: A party with a cause

JJ's Cantina, a dive bar with a massive multistory back balcony that overlooks the sea, is the setting for A Hot Dog and a Smile.

It's a benefit started last May by Peacemakers drummer P.H. Naffah to raise money for Esperanza Para Los Niños, a Mexican nonprofit that helps homeless kids.

Naffah was on the back patio, grilling hot dogs, goofing around and mingling with attendees.

It was a party atmosphere with people slugging beer, watching baseball playoffs and listening to live bands, including Random Karma and Tramps & Thieves, both from the Phoenix area, and Hollywood's Jason Boots.

Some $6,000 was raised for Esperanza Para Los Niños.

Saturday: The main event

The band takes the stage next to Sunset Cantina for an evening that was, as billed, a circus.

While some families and older folks brought lawn chairs to relax and watch the festivities, other revelers made it seem like the organizers might be better off draining the nearby Sea of Cortez, filling it with Dos Equis and giving everyone in attendance a straw.

After opener Massy Ferguson ran through an impressive set of its Northwestern Americana, the crowd began screaming and clamoring for the headliners.

Clyne soon emerged from the tour bus wearing a blue and brown cowboy shirt. He did some arm stretches, donned an oversize sombrero and then led the Peacemakers onstage, where they broke into the event's traditional opener, The Refreshments' "Mexico."

"Well the good guys and the bad guys / Well they never work past noon around here," Clyne sang. "They sit side by side in the cantinas / Talk to senoritas. . . ."

"And drink warm beer!" the crowd finished as fireworks popped overhead.

Throughout the show, Clyne warned fans to pace themselves for a marathon celebration that would include about 50 songs.

Clyne was a passionate ringleader who thoroughly enjoyed his role, whether he was wearing goofy goggles to shield his eyes from blowing sand or joining the crowd in the pre-song count, "1-2, 1-2-3-4!"

Circus Mexicus was a friendly and easygoing experience where people wore the kinds of smiles that likely lasted for days.

"Banditos" was a standout, along with "Counterclockwise," "Leaky Little Boat," "Mexican Moonshine," a solid cover of REO Speedwagon's "Take It on the Run," fan favorite "Mekong" and the traditional show closer "Nada."

"The moment we phone one in, we don't deserve our profession," Clyne had said earlier. "There's too much at stake."

Sunday: Mañanathon at JJ's Cantina

The day after the show, it was back to JJ's for an afternoon meet-and-greet, complete with discounted Bloody Marys and breakfast burritos.

While Peacemakers jams blared, Clyne and his band set up near the merchandise table to talk with and sign autographs for fans. It was refreshing to see how gracious each band member was as they posed for pictures and engaged in long conversations with a constant stream of fans.

Clyne said he genuinely enjoys the interaction.

"I'll stand there until the sun comes up," he said. Jane Parkin of Phoenix complements her cowboy hat with a glowing necklace and glasses during the Roger Clyne & the Peacemakers concert.