Flatland Cavalry

Hailing from Lubbock, Texas, the country-folk and Americana band Flatland Cavalry draws sonic cues from fellow Lone Star acts including Turnpike Troubadours, Wade Bowen, and Randy Rogers alongside folk-pop figures such as the Avett Brothers and John Mayer. Prominent fiddle and acoustic guitar lines anchor their songs in a roots-oriented sound, yet the melodies retain contemporary contours propelled by a driving rock & roll rhythm section. Their first long-player, 2016’s Humble Folks, announced the group with confidence, and extensive road work refined their cohesion on later efforts such as 2019’s Homeland Insecurity and 2021’s Welcome to Countryland before they stepped onto Interscope Records with 2023’s Wandering Star.

Longtime friends Cleto Cordero on guitar and vocals and Jason Albers on drums formed the group in 2012; the lineup later expanded to five members once Jonathan Saenz on bass, Laura Jane on fiddle, and Reid Dillion on guitar joined. A crowdfunding effort financed their independent debut EP, Come May, which surfaced in 2015 and promptly attracted the attention of California-based Atomic Music Group. Flatland Cavalry followed with the full-length Humble Folks the next year, a release that climbed to number 38 on the Top Country Albums chart and number 17 on the Americana/Folk Albums tally. Heavy touring in support of the album prompted a management shift to the Texas firm DBL Music Group.

Laura Jane had departed by the arrival of the second album, Homeland Insecurity, in 2019, after which Wesley Hall assumed fiddle duties. The band issued advance singles such as “Sober Heart of Mine” and “War with My Mind” before tracking 2021’s Welcome to Countryland at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios. A mostly acoustic collection, the Songs to Keep You Warm EP, followed in 2022.

Flatland Cavalry returned in 2023 with Wandering Star, their third studio album and first for Interscope Records; the set includes the duet “Mornings with You,” shared by Cordero and his wife, singer Kaitlin Butts.