Flatland Cavalry Prep for Their Headline Debut at the Ryman: ‘It’s All About Not Giving Up’ (Exclusive)

Flatland Cavalry’s current single “Spinnin'” has lyrics that eventually became the title of their latest album Wandering star.

“It’s the heart of the record,” Flatland Cavalry’s Cleto Cordero, 31, tells PEOPLE from his home in East Nashville during a brief break from the band’s extensive headlining tour. “I skimmed through the lyrics a bit and wanted to see what came to my mind, and these are the words.”

Wandering Star of the Flatland Cavalry.

Of course, that’s not the only story behind the album title. The words “wandering star” were also inspired by a painting that Corder’s wife, Kaitlin Butts, picked up in her home state of Oklahoma, depicting a “native” with his arms outstretched toward the sky, a man who made Corder wonder what his the name of the spirit would be

“That would be ‘Wandering Star,'” Cordero explains quite simply. “I love that it’s an action verb and then a noun, and whenever you see those two words together, you can just picture this celestial thing not really sure where it’s going, but it’s moving.”

And it is this divine description that reminds Corder of the Flatland Cavalry.

“We literally traveled the country for almost 10 years chasing the dream as they say,” says Cordero of the relentless schedule of the band, which consists of him and bandmates Jason Albers, Jonathan Saenz, Reid Dillon, Wesley Hall and Adam Gallegos.

Flatland Cavalry drummer Jason Albers marries fiancee Elizabeth Pace: ‘I always felt right’

Straight cavalry.

Fernando Garcia

This very band, which has shared the stage with Luke Combs, Lainey Wilson and Jordan Davis, will make their debut at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Saturday, February 10.

“It’s all about not giving up,” continues Cordero of Flatland Cavalry, who made their debut in 2015 and recently released a new video for an acoustic performance of their infectious song “A Thousand Miles an Hour.” “It’s all about not giving up when someone doesn’t like your art or when someone says something bad about you. You just keep going.”

Cordero has been ‘going on’ since he was a 17-year-old growing up in Texas, learning how to write his first songs. “I kind of see it in my mind as a little mini-movie,” Cordero laughs about the songwriting process. “It’s like, ‘What are the characters doing there? What is happening?’ And how do I distill that into four lines, if you will?”

Straight cavalry.

Fernando Garcia

Corder’s talent is highlighted in Flatland Cavalry’s beautiful song “Mornings with You”. “The first day I showed it to Kaitlin, she said, ‘Oh my God, this is a beautiful song,'” recalls Cordero, whose wife of more than three years is an accomplished singer/songwriter herself. “She told me she thought it might be the most beautiful song I’ve ever written.”

And then she proceeded to tell her husband that Chris Stapleton should record it.

“I don’t think she was alluding to that letting I sing on it,” Cordero laughs about the song he co-wrote with Ashley Monroe and Nick Walsh. “It was our producer [Dwight A. Baker] I thought it would be really sick to have Kaitlin add some background vocals to this, and it really brings out that element of the union of love and that and her and my relationship.” He pauses. “Whenever we get a chance to sing together, I love it. I love her and I love what she does.”

It’s a song that also becomes another part of Flatland Cavalry’s impressive legacy that ends at Wandering star with the stunning yet dark song “Forgotten”.

“You’re listening to this emotional journey and ride that started on the album with a song like ‘The Provider,’ which is like, ‘Okay, man, here we go,’” Cordero says. “And then you end up with something like ‘Forgotten,’ which is like, ‘It’s over. It’s over.'”

He continues: “I was thinking about the idea of ​​something that goes and goes and goes. At what point does it disappear and eventually get forgotten because the people who sent it don’t even exist anymore?”

That’s deep thinking, to say the least. “I’m like that from time to time,” Cordero admits with a laugh.

Straight cavalry.

Fernando Garcia

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Source: HIS Education