Jeremy Barnes is fascinated by the endlessly curious manner in which musical influences travel in a loop around the world.

"A lot of bands today in the former Yugoslavia, Greece, the Balkans and other parts of Eastern Europe are influenced by Mexican and Spanish music, because a lot of the folk music from this part of the world was influenced by Greek and Polish music, especially in its use of accordion and brass, tubas and trumpet, and with the marches and polkas," says Barnes via phone from his home in Albuquerque, N.M.

Barnes, an accordionist and percussionist, is the founder of A Hawk and a Hacksaw, a band in which he partners with violinist Heather Trost. The group bases its engaging sound on traditional music from Greece, Turkey, Romania, the Slavic countries and the Roma (gypsy) people, with subtle hints of the Hispanic music of the American Southwest and northern Mexico.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw will play Tuesday night, March 1, at Solar Culture Gallery. Tucsonan Amy Rude will also be on the bill.

The band is touring to support its sixth album, Cervantine, which Barnes and Trost released Feb. 15 on their newly inaugurated record label, L.M. Dupli-cation.

A Hawk and a Hacksaw's name is a variation on a phrase in Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century Spanish novel, Don Quixote, and the title of their new album is an adjective pertaining to the study of Cervantes' work.

Don Quixote has been an important inspiration for A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Barnes says.

"It has kind of influenced what we have done musically all along, especially the dual themes of chivalry and foolishness; we embrace that dichotomy completely," he says. "There is something wonderful about the fact that he is the fool, but he also comes out as the hero."