Calexicoโ€™s John Convertino, left, and Joey Burns are bringing their โ€œEl Miradorโ€ tour to Rialto Theatre on June 19 โ€” their first Tucson concert since summer 2019.

 Holly Andres

Mariachi Luz de Luna showed up at his home on the night before Joey Burns and his family were set to leave Tucson for Boise, Idaho, in summer 2020.

As they serenaded Burns, one half of the popular Tucson desert rock/cumbia band Calexico, the neighbors came out. One man brought a bottle of tequila and shot glasses and told Burns that even though he should keep his 6-foot pandemic protocol distance, he needed to give his longtime neighbor a hug.

Calexico band members stopped by and Burns pulled out his guitar. What started out as a small gesture quickly turned into a big party.

โ€œIt was the best way to have left Tucson on such a spirited high note,โ€ Burns recalled last week as the band prepared for a Tucson reunion at Rialto Theatre on Sunday, June 19.

โ€œWe are so ready,โ€ he added from a tour stop in Salt Lake City. โ€œIโ€™m so happy to get back to Tucson.โ€

Sundayโ€™s concert will be Calexicoโ€™s first in Tucson since they joined Iron & Wine at the Rialto in summer 2019. They are touring on their new album โ€œEl Miradorโ€ โ€” the bandโ€™s career 10th record โ€” which Burns and longtime Calexico bandmate John Convertino wrote and recorded in Tucson last June from keyboardist Sergio Mendozaโ€™s makeshift backyard studio.

โ€œEl Miradorโ€ is a love letter to Tucson, wrapped in what the liner notes describes as โ€œhaunting desert noirโ€ with nods to rock and regional folk and infectious Latin rhythms influenced by cumbia, conjunto and mariachi. Beneath those driving melodies is messages and sentiments of finding unity amidst the social disorder borne out of the COVID era and government mandates that divided the nation.

โ€œI think getting people to find a common space and a common thread is super important, and thatโ€™s the hardest thing today, whether itโ€™s politics or matters of the heart and maintaining relationships,โ€ Burns said. โ€œWe need to find that common ground and I think rhythm is the most important way and the easiest way to get people together.โ€

It was a no-brainer for Burns and Convertino, who moved to El Paso several years ago, to make โ€œEl Miradorโ€ at home in Tucson.

โ€œAll of our gear is stored in Tucson. Most of our band lives in Tucson. Itโ€™s an essential meeting point for us, literally and figuratively,โ€ Burns said. โ€œAnd weโ€™ve always loved Tucson. There is something about returning to the Sonoran Desert and the community in and around Tucson that is hard to describe in words actually.โ€

Calexico could have done what many bands and artists did during the height of COVID โ€” have individual band members record bits and pieces digitally then put it all together without ever having to be in the same room.

But that doesnโ€™t work for Calexico, the desert rock/cumbia band that Burns and Convertino put together not long after moving to Tucson in the late 1990s.

Calexico has always sounded like Tucson, from the driving Mexican and mariachi accents to the sun-drenched desert rock heartbeat.

Itโ€™s impossible to capture the essence of a place if you are not in that place.

โ€œThereโ€™s a lot of connection for us in many ways. I donโ€™t know where to start. I just feel like there are so many friends, so many musicians, so many connections to the people, to the history, to the landscape, the connection to our beautiful Southern border between the U.S. and Mexico and using that as a window to the world,โ€ Burns said. โ€œBut more importantly, to just kind of soak up some of that monsoon inspiration and being back where I spent almost three decades of my life and where the band originated, it was pretty remarkable getting people back together playing music in the same room after two years. It was really fantastic.โ€

The album, recorded with most of the band members who still live in Tucson, was released in April and the band toured Europe last month before embarking on the North American leg of the tour in early June โ€” the bandโ€™s first post-COVID tour.

Calexico returns to Rialto Theatre for its first Tucson show since 2019.

โ€œI canโ€™t tell you how excited I am. I canโ€™t wait to see people from the stage and get to sing these songs that were inspired by so many years and experiences of being in Tucson and thinking of Tucson and how much hope there is despite adversity,โ€ he said.

In addition to Burns, Convertino and Mendoza, Calexico will include Tucson musicians Brian Lopez, Jacob Valenzuela and Rick Peron, and New York bassist Scott Colberg.

Sundayโ€™s show is at 8 p.m. at the Rialto, 318 E. Congress St. Tickets are $32-$48 through rialtotheatre.com.

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Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On Twitter @Starburch