The solstice isn't until June 21, but you know it's summer when the outdoor concert season opens at Red Butte Garden.

After a late start last year because of the multimillion-dollar renovation to the venue, this year's series opens with Neko Case headlining and Joey & John of Calexico opening May 31.

Case is a 38-year-old singer-songwriter who has found success with the group The New Pornographers and on her own; in March, her latest and fifth studio album, "Middle Cyclone," debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard album chart after the singer scored attention with lengthy profiles in the New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine. "Though frequently labeled as alt-country or Americana, Case generally eludes categorization," an Associated Press writer opined earlier this year. "She is widely admired for her powerful, full voice that ... can sound like siren and Greek chorus rolled into one."

But the honor of being the first act to take the stage at Red Butte Garden this summer is Joey & John of Calexico, otherwise known as singer/guitarist Joey Burns and drummer John Convertino. Calexico is a six-piece band based in Tucson, but Burns and Convertino will be opening for Case as a duo. "It's back to basics," said Burns.

The partnership between Burns and Convertino began when both were in a California band called Giant Sand. When one of the Giant Sand band members moved to Tucson as a way to raise a child (Convertino's goddaughter), Convertino and Burns moved, too. Once Giant Sand broke up, Burns and Convertino created Calexico on the side while doing session work for other musicians.

Calexico, Calif., is a border town, and despite being gringos and never having spent any time in the town, the name seemed to fit. "The melding of influences was important in choosing a name," Burns said.

The meld of influences came from just being in Arizona, Convertino said. Once the indie band left Los Angeles -- where the strong Latino culture seeped into the members' consciousness -- the band found other Latin American influences in Tucson. Those influences led Burns and Convertino to blend rock, country and Tejano music into a potent blend that has become their trademark and helped them to become the town's favorite adopted musical sons.

Burns stressed that the band is not a Tejano or Tex-Mex band, but that like Case, who recently moved away from Tucson, it resists easy categorization. After all, accordions, horns and violin perk up the band's songs, most notably on 2000's "Hot Rail." Calexico's latest album, "Carried to Dust," released in September, was a more atmospheric effort, with the subtle addition of jazz loosening up its folk-country backbone.

The two have been friends of Case's for a decade, ever since they bumped into each other at a South by Southwest showcase. They have been big supporters of Case before her ascent to relative stardom. Convertino doesn't even mind, he said, that Case used to open for them.