Concert Recap: Flatland Cavalry Welcomed Home by Six Thousand Humble Folks at Cook’s Garage

Flatland Cavalry takes Lubbock everywhere with them, all around the world, no matter where they play, which is why Friday night’s show at Cook’s Garage felt all the more special.

I’ve been to enough shows at Cook’s Garage to know when there are a lot of people at a show there and about halfway through Tanner Usrey’s opening set, I looked out from the bridge and told Parker Lee, Cook’s Garage’s house videographer, “There are a lot of damn people here tonight.” To see a band that wears this city so proudly on their sleeve then turn around and have this city show up and really behind them as they did on Friday was incredible to see.

The band hit the stage at 10 PM sharp with fiddle player Wesley Hall walking out to the end of the catwalk the band had sticking out into the pit, waving his arms up in the air, and leading the band into the intro of the song Gettin’ By from their latest album, Welcome to Countryland, and the night was off to the races. The song was a solid intro and transitioned extremely well into One I Want, the opening track to their debut Humble Folks, and one of their biggest hits. Maybe it was just amplified because I was in the photo pit but the crowd set the bar extremely high for the evening.

For their entire hour and 45 minute set, the band just never stopped being great. I beat this dead horse into the ground every time I see Flatland but I don’t know if they’ve ever played a bad show. Wesley Hall and lead guitarist Reid Dillon are a powerhouse duo up front, bassist Jonathon Saenz and drummer Jason Albers keep the grooves down tight, utility man Adam Gallegos always provides a ton of fun embellishments, and frontman Cleto Cordero is a frontman that always wants you to know he’s having a great time on stage. He’s always smiling, always quick to express his gratitude for the job he has, and he’s just always a joy to watch as well.

Zach and I got to interview Cleto the Tuesday before the show and one of the things I was curious to know was how the band builds setlists. He replied that he always want the show to feel momentous. Rock out for a little bit, slow it down, bring it back up, give the folks something to dance to, maybe bring it down again, then finish out strong. That’s exactly how Friday’s show felt with the biggest highlight of the evening being the solo acoustic set Cleto did in the middle of the show. Sitting on a stool at the edge of the catwalk, Cleto started the set by playing Lubbock, a song that exists only on the band’s YouTube channel but is such a great tribute to the city and what it means to both Cleto and the band. After that, a few extra chairs and music stands were brought out behind Cleto which led to a string quartet being brought out on stage for a performance of the song If We Said Goodbye from last year’s Songs To Keep You Warm EP which…man. I think just saying the performance was beautiful would still be underselling it. Goosebumps, chills, tears, whatever you can think of, I probably had it or felt it during this performance. Just absolutely flawless. To wrap up the acoustic set, Cleto played Sleeping Alone from the band’s sophomore record Homeland Insecurity and as a person who considers it their favorite Flatland album, I was bummed that that was the only song from that album to get played that night but regardless, I’m glad the only song they played from that album was one of the best.

Outside of the string section, the band also had another surprise bringing out Scott Faris, owner of Amusement Park Studios and producer of the band’s first two albums. He played guitar on the song Humble Folks and a cover of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s Fishin’ in the Dark which was so much fun. As the show began to wind down though, I started to get a little worried. It started first with the Cleto saying after a stellar performance of A Life Where We Work Out that the band was about to play their final song of the evening. They started playing Traveler’s Song which was really good but it wasn’t what Zach and I were hoping for. They ended the song with a big finish and Cleto looked down and said, “We might have time for just one more if that’s alright by y’all?” Utility man Adam Gallegos started playing a few chords on his keyboard that sounded familiar and I thought it was going to happen, then Zach and I got hit with an awful bait and switch as the band closed out their show with a cover of John Denver’s Take Me Home, Country Roads. Oh, I guess I never gave context. When we interviewed Cleto, Zach asked him specifically if the band could play the song February Snow, a sleeper hit off of Humble Folks. Cleto told us yes, then at the end of the interview said he’d find a slot for it, then the next day, told Zach to his face at Goodline Beer Co. that he would play the song, even promising he would. They did not. It wasn’t enough to detract from how great they already were but it was definitely a bummer. (I will provide the audio of this if anyone wants it.)

The show was opened by Alex Lambert and Tanner Usrey and this could be a full article in itself. Lambert is extremely unassuming on stage. One of my buddies along the barricade said that she saw him walk on stage, saw the hat and saw jeans that were, “about four inches too short,” and figured that we all might be in trouble. Then he started singing. I was not, at all, prepared for the voice Lambert had. We might need to do some serious investigating and see if Lambert found a way to surgically remove Leon Bridges’ voice and implant it into himself. Seriously, Lambert had pipes. He sang extremely soulful, extremely passionately, and I don’t know if there’s a chance he didn’t win over the crowd that got there early to see him. I think you guys need to keep an eye on Lambert’s name because he could be seriously huge soon.

Tanner Usrey’s set is still one I’m trying to process because it was just so. friggin. good. I’ve been slowly getting into Tanner’s music and seeing him live completely sold me. After being introduced by JR from The Red Dirt Rebel, Tanner walked on stage, plugged in his acoustic guitar, and immediately started singing Come Back Down from his 2019 EP, Medicine Man. Come Back Down might be my favorite song of his so between that and the fact that him and his band absolutely crushed that song as the opening number made for a concert moment I don’t know if I’ll forget anytime soon. For his whole hour, Usrey showcased his amazing voice, his killer songwriting and storytelling chops, and got the crowd extremely energized for Flatland’s set a short 30 minutes after his wrapped up. The biggest takeaway I got from Usrey’s set was just how much he and his band rock live. The same thing has happened to me seeing American Aquarium and, to some extent, Whiskey Myers where these songs just breathe completely new lives when they’re performed and just hit differently than they do when you pull them up on Spotify. While I don’t like that I’m about to say this next part, I’m afraid I need to, Usrey’s covers were just as nuts as his actual performance. This man covered a Faces song at a Texas Country show and it was amazing. He took the frontman role as best he could during it, strutting up and down the catwalk with his mic and mic stand in hand. He also closed out his show with a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain which is probably one of the best covers I’ve ever heard of the song, probably right up there with The Highwomen’s rendition of it. Do not miss Usrey the next time he’s in your city, I can’t recommend him and his music enough.

I don’t know if I could’ve envisioned a better way for Cook’s Garage to kick off its outdoor season. Three incredible artists, three incredible performances, and six thousand incredible fans, what more can you ask for on a Friday night? I am curious to see how Flatland keeps growing in this city though. Will their show next year be the one that finally sells out Cook’s? Do they graduate to the USA at some point in the next 5 years? Will they just headline JAB Fest again as a way to compromise? All are things to chew on but until they come back around, we’ll just sit here and wait for them to come back down.