There aren't many sacred cows in Tucson, but Calexico is becoming one of them.
We love that they claim Tucson. We love their down-to-earth personas, playing multiple benefit shows here every year. We love how they came up in the Downtown music scene and became respected internationally.
Some of us even love their music: mariachi horns blaring, acoustic guitars strumming, with the backbones of the operation, singer-guitarist Joey Burns and understated drummer John Convertino, acting as propellers.
So a new album by Calexico has come to be a cause for celebration, and it has just put out a dandy, "Carried to Dust."
The album will be available to buy at Calexico's concert at the Rialto Saturday, and it could be the band's finest work.
Calexico has been in Tucson since the mid-'90s, yet the group has only recently gained major national attention, stemming from its 2005 collaboration with Iron and Wine on the fantastic EP titled "In the Reins."
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Calexico's own follow-up, 2006's "Garden Ruin," received more attention than any of the band's previous releases. But "Ruin" seemed to abandon the band's numerous quirks, such as punchy instrumental interludes.
Rebounding hard, "Carried to Dust" brings back the eccentricities of Calexico's past right from the start, opening with the swinging horn drive of "Victor Jara's Hands."
One of the arguments against Calexico is Burns' gentle singing voice, largely unheard in the group's recent backing work.
Burns didn't sing lead on any of the "In the Reins" songs, nor on any of the tunes on the soundtrack to the 2007 Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There."
On "Carried to Dust," Burns' voice fluctuates from soul bellowing to sullen whisper, and it mostly works, though sometimes it sounds a little too stylized ("Bend to the Road").
Frosty lead single "Two Silver Trees" is an example of everything clicking for Calexico: Burns uses his whisper in the verses and singing voice in the chorus, and the music is so gorgeous that it seems like it's changing the seasons every time it's played.
One of the defining strengths of Calexico is its ability to sweep you into its world, taking listeners to the American Southwest.
This is one of the reasons Europeans love Calexico and others in this country are beginning to come around.
For Tucsonans, we know where we go when we hear Calexico: Home.
CD review
"Carried to Dust," Calexico. Touch and Go/Quarterstick Records.
If you go
• What: Go Vote 2008, a campaign fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
• Featuring: Calexico, Mariachi Luz de Luna and Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World.
• When: 8 p.m. Saturday.
• Where: The Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St.
• Tickets: $25 ($15 for students) and $75 VIP, available at www.giffordsforcongress.com.
