Giant Sand - Tucson (2012)

Just when you thought Giant Sand couldn't get any bigger, Howe Gelb has done just that by regrouping, expanding and magnifying his vision with the newest version of past ensembles, calling it (appropriately enough) GIANT GIANT SAND. As a sort of homage, he's named the album Tucson after the town he's called home for forty years. This self-described country rock opera by one of music's leading risk-takers, is set to be released on June 12th on Fire Records. Taking place in the town of Tucson, the story revolves around a "semi grizzled man with overt boyish naivete'' who sets off to escape his hometown and embarks on a life-changing road trip; eschewing all his worldly goods and leaving his girlfriend, encountering jail at the Mexican border, finding love at a train station saloon and fearing the end of the world. The album is a dusty work of art, conjuring images of the desert, rivers, and a cactus-strewn landscape.