As Joey Burns answers the phone, he's loudly singing Macarena.

Thankfully -- or unfortunately, depending on your point of view -- his version isn't one of the three covers appearing on his band Calexico's new EP Convict Pool.

Nor are you likely to hear it tomorrow night when the band plays the MacEwan Hall Ballroom as part of the jazz fest.

The reason?

"It's the song for hotel rooms first thing in the morning buzzed on hotel coffee and watching CNN with lame-ass e-mails to Wolf Blitzer," Burns says.

Ah. Just as well. The annoying tune probably wouldn't have fit in very well with the other covers -- a wonderful version of Love's Alone Again Or, the Minutemen's Corona and Francoiz Breut's Si Tu Disais.

The disc is rounded out by three originals -- as well as an animated short called El Kabong Rides Again featuring another Calexico song -- which employ the same gorgeous sweeping, lonesome desert sounds the band has employed since Burns formed it with John Convertino nearly a decade ago in Tuscon.

It comes on the heels of Calexico's 2003 critically acclaimed album Feast of Wire, which brought the six-piece to town last year for a show people are still talking about.

This time through, Burns promises a different set aimed more to fit in with the spirit of the jazz festival.

"We try to play more of the songs that have more of the spontaneity and improvisation," he says. "As long as the audience is there and are reacting to the songs that do have those elements, then we'll continue going that path."