Bonnaroo Band of the Day: Calexico (with Special Guests)

Calexico likes to borrow names. The band itself is named after a small California town on the border of Mexico. Fitting, since their style is a seamless blend of Americana, country, and Latin music. Calexico’s latest album, Algiers, was named after the Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans where it was recorded. It’s a perfect tribute, since the musical heritage and rich culture of New Orleans clearly had a tremendous influence on the band, infusing broader elements of jazz and old rock and roll into their sound. Algiers is their most expansive, balanced, refined, accessible, and downright enjoyable album of the southwestern rockers’ entire seventeen year and seven album career. The band, which primarily consists of duo Joey Burns and John Convertino (and their permanent live band) has toured with heavy-hitters like Arcade Fire and Pavement, and have been regular fixtures at festivals like Bonnaroo over the years, making them one of the most seasoned and sure-to-be-fantastic artists on this year’s bill.

With an impressive resume of tour mates, collaborators, current and former band members, an unbeatable discography, and a 23-year friendship between the creative duo at its center, it should come as no surprise that Calexico are a seriously impressive live band. The tex-mex collective have honed a pretty flawless performance style and magnetic presence, pulling from dozens of songs and hundreds of shows from their nearly two-decade run. There’s not another band on earth quite like them and, though they pull from all kinds of incredibly familiar influences, they’re genuinely shaped a sound not only uniquely their own, but also wholly representative of their surroundings. Calexico tends to pop up at ‘Roo every few years, and for good reason: they never disappoint! [Update: “with Special Guests” has been added with Calexico’s name on the lineup. We’re not sure who the special guests are, but we’re eager to find out!]

Listen | “Two Silver Trees”

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/7745228″ params=”” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

Watch | “Splitter” (Official Music Video)