Giant Sand

Tucson, Ariz., band Giant Sand is the vision of Singer-Songwriter/instrumentalist Howe Gelb and a loose confederation of players and collaborators that's been in constant transition since 1985. Gelb and company walk the margins of country, pop, folk, Noise Rock and countless other subgenres with the shambling air of a mad scientist combining some of this and some of that to see what happens. The results (dubbed "desert rock" by some critics) can be wonderfully charming or horribly grating, but they always offer the automatic excitement of a rock band pushing against the limitations of genre. Giant Sand have recorded more than fifteen albums under their own name, and have also spawned a number of side projects such as Gelb's Band of Blacky Ranchette (which hews closer to real country, and features the slide guitar playing of the late Rainer Ptacek) and Calexico, which is led by Giant Sand's long-time rhythm section, Joe Burns and John Convertino.