Nashville, Tennessee, is home to Escondido, but the roots of the band’s cofounders—Jessica Maros and Tyler James—extend far beyond Music City. That might come as a surprise to those who’ve heard the duo’s debut album, The Ghost of Escondido.

The record mixes smouldering country noir (“Special Enough”) with punked-up Americana (“Don’t Love Me Too Much”) and border-town mariachi (“Evil Girls”). Add flashes of classic roadhouse rock (“Bad Without You”) to that sonic cocktail, and one might logically assume that Maros and James grew up in a world where men wear bolo ties, women smoke Marlboro red packs, and jukeboxes are loaded with the best of the Gun Club, Mazzy Star, and everything ever released by Calexico.

That’s not the case. Reached in the home of the Grand Ole Opry and Jack White’s Third Man Records, the two bandmates freely confess to being strangers in a strange land. Maros grew up in Port Coquitlam, with James spending a good part of his formative years just across the border in Mount Vernon, Washington.

“We both had views of Mount Baker,” Maros says. “There were moments growing up where I would look out my window and see it. Same for Tyler.”

The common bonds don’t stop there. Born to Slovakian immigrants, Maros had her eyes opened to a new world after discovering the Smashing Pumpkins and Nirvana as a teen.

A couple hours’ drive south, James also ended up a child of the vaunted grunge sound.

Somewhere along the line, the two became obsessed with acts like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Tom Petty, and the team of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. When they hooked up, then, the goal was to turn such influences into something dusty but dreamy.

“We never really were an Americana-country band,” James says. “When we put the record out, people sort of started calling it an Americana record. I think it came out the way it did because we definitely went in there with a goal to make a desert-inspired record. We wanted to have a southwestern vibe on it because that’s the music we love and listen to a lot. I always wanted to mix that music into a three-minute pop song.”

Both musicians note that Escondido—which has been praised by no less than David Lynch—isn’t the only thing that occupies their time. James is a producer who also pulls guitar duty in Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

Maros has a successful career as a fashion designer, which she launched during a self-imposed four-year hiatus from the music business. That break came after she became disillusioned working in the songwriting factories of Music Row.

“I ended up in Nashville because I had a development deal with Nettwerk Records,” she says. “They were sending me here to write with a bunch of songwriters. I wasn’t in country music at all, so I was confused as to why they wanted to send me here. Like, really, why not L.A. or New York? Because back then, I pictured Nashville as haystacks and cowboys. But I fell in love with the people and stayed.”

When the bandmates return to the Pacific Northwest, however, it’s obvious where home is.

“It’s really funny how it’s always hard going back to your hometown,” Maros says. “I’m excited, but also a little nervous. It’s like standing in front of your parents and staring at them face to face, going, ‘This is what I’ve been doing all these years.’ ”

Evidently, though, someone approves, especially judging by the action at the merch table.

“At our last show in Vancouver, at the Media Club, there were, like, 50 Slovakians there—all your parents’ friends,” James says to Maros, laughing. “And they all bought one of everything.”

Escondido plays Fortune Sound Club on Monday (March 31).