WHO ARE THEY?

An American duo - singer and guitarist Joey Burns plus drummer John Convertino - who have spent the past 12 years seeking most of their musical inspiration down Mexico way.

NOT EXACTLY NEW, THEN?

No, señor. But their latest album, Carried To Dust, out on Monday, is set to give them their biggest break.

A haunting fusion of twanging American rock and Mexican mariachi horns, it will appeal to fans of Tom Waits, Ry Cooder, Manu Chao and Nancy Sinatra.

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Twanging American rock and Mexican mariachi horns: Calexico

WHAT'S THE STORY?

Joey and John were an odd-jobbing rhythm section in Tucson, Arizona, before forming Calexico in 1996.

Naming the band after a town on the California-Mexico frontier, they started out by playing lounge-jazz covers of Dean Martin songs before looking south of the border.

WHAT NEXT?

They made an album about the Arizona desert, wrote a song for Nancy Sinatra and supplied another for last year's Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There.

Now, with Carried To Dust, they have come up with a loose concept about a character who, left idle by last year's Hollywood screenwriters' strike, visits roadside diners and thrift stores before heading to Latin America and Europe.

ANY COLLABORATIONS?

There's a dreamy vocal cameo from Canadian female singer Pieta Brown and a striking contribution from Spanish vocalist Amparo Sanchez.

Says Joey: 'Over the years, we've done remixes for Goldfrapp and Arcade Fire, so it seemed a good idea to let some of our friends sit in.

'With us, there's always a desire to move forward.'

WHERE CAN I SEE THEM?

Calexico start a tour of the British Isles next Wednesday at The Tripod, Dublin, before visiting Edinburgh, Oxford, Sheffield and London.