The American Southwest is placed front and center in the music of Calexico. The Tucson-based band not only takes its name from the border region between California and Mexico, but also finds inspiration in the geography, history and music of the area. Calexico joins David Dye from Wave Lab Studios in Tucson to play songs from its new album, Carried to Dust.
In Carried to Dust, bandleaders Joey Burns and John Convertino show a commitment to testing the limits of their musical fabric by inviting performers such as Iron & Wine's Sam Beam and Pieta Brown to take the microphone and direct the proceedings. Burns and Convertino's travels in South America also reveal themselves in the themes of these new songs, as does John Fante's book Ask the Dust.
This story originally ran Oct. 17, 2008.
Copyright 2008 XPN
