Yahoo Lifestyle Flatland Cavalry Reflects on Humble Beginnings After a Decade in Music
I’ve never been to Lubbock. Honestly, I had never even heard of it until about a week before writing this. It's a city in west Texas, by the way. But all because of a Flatland Cavalry song, I now have so much passion for this place I’ve never even been to. Maybe it’s because the song is incredibly catchy and I can’t seem to stop singing it, especially at the end where the band sings a cappella and it’s just their voices, hands clapping, and boots stomping. Or, maybe it’s because even though I couldn’t tell you where it is on a map, I know what it’s like, because I have my own Lubbock. And hopefully, you do too.
“Take me home where the air is dry, the cotton and winter wheat grow knee-high. I tell ya friend I ain't seen a prettier sunset sky,” the band sings in the song's chorus. “A little windy, but I don't mind, little breeze through my hair suits me just fine. Oughta see them stars burn at night. Feeling low from the road time to head back home, nothing like a little bit of Lubbock to get me high.”
Flatland Cavalry released their song "Lubbock" at the end of October with a place on their new anniversary album, Flatland Forever, which came out November 8. The Texas city is actually the birthplace of one of rock-n-roll's biggest pioneers, Buddy Holly. It’s also home to a windmill museum, something called Prairie Dog Town, and Texas Tech University, where the members of Flatland Cavalry met.
Cleto Cordero, a born and raised Texan named after his grandfather, is the frontman of the band. I had the pleasure of joining him on a phone call to talk more about the band's last 10 years together leading up to this celebratory album.
“I moved there [Lubbock] when I was 20-years-old after graduating from Junior College to pursue an accounting degree at Texas Tech,” Cordero told Country Living. “My heart was set on becoming a singer/songwriter and starting a band. I heard about Austin being the live music capital of the world, but it was 6 hours away. Lubbock was only an hour-and-a-half away. I just kind of weighed it all on the scale of my heart and I’m so grateful I chose Lubbock.”
It was Lubbock where Cordero became roommates with Jason Albers. The two had been friends since they were in 8th grade and had become unofficial bandmates with Cordero playing guitar and Albers on drums. Within a couple of years, they added guitarist Reid Dillon and bassist Jonathan Saenz to the group. Later came Wesley Hall who plays a mean fiddle and Adam Gallegos who's typically on the keys or banjo, among other instruments. While the band is typically a sextet, their own producer, Dwight Baker, has been known to join the boys onstage as well, strumming along on the acoustic.
"I feel like we're a ragtag bunch. There's nothing that you can't do if you help each other out," said Cordero.
Ten years after the band formed, and after a lot of pleading from fans, the band finally put out their love letter to Lubbock and their humble beginnings there, along with Flatland Forever. Though they all come from different places, Lubbock is a bit of a homecoming for these guys.
"Midland is where I was born and raised," said Cordero. "But as much as we hop and skip around, you can have as many hometowns as you desire. Lubbock is definitely the hometown for Flatland. They show us love every time we show up there. We haven't turned our backs on them and they haven't turned theirs on us. We don't play there but once a year, and while we love this place, it's ironic that we have to leave it. But every time we come back, it feels like the first time."
Now, the band is headed back to their beloved hometown after 10 years of incredibly hard work. And while Mr. Cordero speaks nearly every word with humility and mentions time and time again how lucky they are, their success isn't just serendipitous luck, it's the result of what hard work and a strong community can do.
This past year has been filled with monuments occasions, almost like breadcrumbs leading the way to a much desired place in their career. At the beginning of 2024, they started off strong with a sold-out show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, a bucket list venue for most musicians.
"There's a lot of moments along the journey that are not glorified or exalted or cool. That's when you get tempted with dismay and wonder if you should do something else with your life. But the Ryman was truly special."
That night, the band also received their first ever Gold Record for their song "A Life Where We Work Out." Though the song came out on the band's first full length album "Humble Folks" in 2016, it started trending on TikTok about six years later, selling more than 500,000 units by February 2024.
A few months later, they were nominated for Best Group of the year by the Academy of Country Music, and went on to play Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado.
"That was everything and more we could've hoped it would've been," Cordero explained. "We've been saying, 'One of these days man, we're going to play Red Rocks.' Our story begins in a garage in Lubbock and going to Blue Light on Mondays for songwriter night. And Red Rocks happened on a Monday night. To go from three people in the crowd with no one listening to 7-8,000 attuned fans was magical. It's something you never forget."
So as these Texas gentlemen and their many fans celebrate an exciting milestone of music, there's also a new album to enjoy.
"I've been wanting to make a record called Flatland Forever for a while now," Cordero told me.
A friend mentioned an album concept to Cordero that was filled with songs that best represent the band. The songs they love playing and folks love listening to. Something that serves as an introduction to new fans, and a thank you to those who have been there all along. And so, Flatland Forever became more than just an idea.
"I went through every record and I picked five songs from each one and then omitted as many as I could to condense it. But I didn't want to just put out stuff that we've already done, I wanted to add new stuff that all fit along chronologically."
And according Cordero, the album felt like the perfect place for "Lubbock" to land, because at this point, it was nearly a 6-year-old song.
"We had a session with Scott Farris who produced 'Come May,' 'Humble Folks,' and 'Homeland Insecurity.' He called me and said Texas Tech is looking for a special song. So Lubbock was actually birthed from that. We tried to record it, but it just didn't feel right at the time, so it got shelved for a while. When the Flatland Forever concept came to be, I knew 'Lubbock' would fit on there."
With the song now getting the special home it needed, a special recording was also well-deserved.
"We got the idea to record 'Lubbock' in Lubbock, on tape with Scott. To me, timing is really important, if it's not everything. I'm grateful we sat on that song for a while to have it recorded in the way we did—on tape, in Lubbock, with our producer. And to have other Lubbock folks in the room singing on it made it feel like such a community. Kudos to our management team and everyone who worked their butts off to make this happen."
To ring in the new album, the guys headed back to Lubbock for a sold out show with the people who helped them get to where they are now.
Track number 9 on Flatland Forever is one of the band's first hits, a song called "Humble Folks."
The chorus sings, "Would you look at us now, playing these shows to a sold-out crowd. Just tryin' to make our mom and daddy proud, they wouldn't have it any other way. 'Cause everybody these days is a 'blowin' smoke. Keep your 15 minutes give me something more, something bigger than you and me, gonna do right by our family. Put a score on the board for the humble folks.”
And so, we put a score on the board for Flatland Cavalry—Flatland Forever.
You Might Also Like
