Flatland Calvary is back and Cleto Cordero’s voice has improved tremendously. It’s as if the lead singer coated his throat with honey before recording Homeland Insecurity, the group’s polished sophomore LP.
Cordero has also grown as a songwriter. There was a real charm to the way he seemingly freewheeled his way through parts of 2016’s Humble Folks, but now he sounds more like he’s sculpting his lyrics. “Living by Moonlight” is the dramatic second single and “Old School” sounds like it was made with a dance hall in mind. Both speak to a desire to play for larger crowds and bolster the band’s ability to do just that. Texas radio will certainly take notice.
Despite the title, Homeland Insecurity is not at all political. There is one hot take, however. Twin fiddles play while “Pretty Women” urges the listener to have more empathy for beautiful women, pointing out that their makeup may be masking deeper pains and insecurities. Though I may have changed “just really sad little girls” to the kinder and more revelatory “really just sad little girls,” the song comes along at a time when quite a few people Instagram would benefit from hearing it. Family politics come into play on the very much lived-in “Come Back Down” when the start of the song (and therefore the visit) recaps awkward conversation about the fact that the singer left home in the first place. The readjustments are made and the catharsis comes toward the end, as tends to happen.
“Honeywine” is also a great track and seems to be a huge hit for the band as the album’s lead single, but Homeland Insecurity suffers from weakness in the middle. “Back to Me” and “Sleeping Alone” are difficult to remember even after repeated listens to the album. “Ashes” has some fantastic verses and a great closing structure, but the track is held down by its clunkiness. To be fair, it’s nearly impossible to quote liberally from “Ring Around the Rosie” right before a sturdy electric guitar solo and keep a bittersweet tone intact. It’s a mammoth task that probably shouldn’t have been attempted.
Still, most of the ambition is appreciated. And, frankly, required for a band looking to thrive in a genre and region where Turnpike Troubadours and Reckless Kelly are lighting the way. The best songs coupled with Cordero’s vocals, Wesley Hall’s fiddling and Reid Dillon’s electric guitar playing are capable of matching Red Dirt stalwarts like Randy Rogers and Cody Canada. Considering how much Cordero hints that he’s still figuring things out on the title track “Years from Now,” the future looks bright for this group.
Glide’s Trevor Christian spoke with Cordero on the day Homeland Insecurity was released.
What does the phrase “Homeland Insecurity” mean?
All the songs on the record weaved a thread of insecurity through them. They’re all about being unsure about everyday life and the things we go through as humans. There’s a song on there called “The Other Side of Lonesome” about depression and gun violence that I wrote after the Las Vegas shooting. And there’s another song called “Ashes” about how we have to realize the fact that no one’s gonna make it out alive. “Pretty Women” has to do with being insecure about the way you look. The record circles around all those things we think about but don’t really talk about.
On that song “Pretty Women,” I feel like you wrote this song after making the revelation for yourself that makeup can mask insecurities. But in the way you’re presenting it, you’re asking people to be more empathetic.
It’s definitely not judgmental. It’s more observational. It’s about seeing people who appear to have it all together and are dolled up, but they’re not really happy. I guess the message of that song is be who you are, and if you’re not really happy it shows in your eyes.
Is this song something that takes on a new meaning in the social media era?
It definitely stems from social media. I try to stay off social media as much as I can but when I do get on there I scroll past things and everyone’s taking a selfie with their duck face and there are contour videos where they’re putting all this makeup on. But you can tell that the people doing it don’t look really happy. It was inspired by social media for sure, but you can run into people like that anywhere. And we’ve all been that person.
I’ll admit that as much as I’ll say what’s on my mind in a conversation with anyone, I won’t always admit that anything’s wrong if I’m making a post to the masses.
Social media is not necessarily a diary. You won’t tell people “oh I had to worst day” it’s more “oh how great my life is.”
Another track you did called “Come Back Down,” is that something you went through yourself when coming back home?
Absolutely. I came home for Christmas and I surprised my parents. My mom, I guess I took her by surprise. Usually, she’d get up and run to me. Ever since I moved away she’s been very excited to see me. This time she couldn’t get out of her chair because of her knees. They’re getting older and I realized that, man, I need to come back more often. I need to enjoy and be present with them as much as I can.
That song also captures how there’s a change in the dynamics when you come back. There’s always giving you crap for being away, there’s joking about where you’ve been. The joy is there, but so is realizing what you’re coming back to has been made different by your absence.
You went out and did your own thing but maybe not everybody’s happy for you. They still see you as their little brother. But they’re messing with you. They do that to keep you humble. You’ll have a beer afterward. There are different dynamics in the family but going back home is an experience in itself.
When you wrote “Old School,” were you looking for that song that will win over anyone at a dance hall in Texas?
(Laughter) No, that one’s just a fun song. Our guitar player was just doing some chicken-pickin’ and I said: “man, that sounds old school, that’s some old school shit right there.” I just wrote to that emotion. I always get shit for dressing like my dad. I’m saying this all lightheartedly, but pretty much we all turn into our parents. It ended up being really fun. It’s definitely the most listener-friendly.
Is Honeywine based on a real person? That song comes alive because there are so many specific details about this woman.
Yeah, Kaitlin Butts, she sang on our last record. We were hanging out together in Stephenville and we got invited to this afterparty. She was competing in this songwriting competition are Larry Joe Taylor’s place. We go there and there’s nothing to drink and it wasn’t really a party at all, they just sold it to us like that. They just wanted us to play songs for them and it felt like a ‘dance monkey dance’ situation. Luckily someone brought out this bottle from the trunk of their car and it was honey wine, which I never tried. It was really terrible. But we passed it back and forth and we got drunk and I told her “we should make a songwriting competition of our own. We should both try to write a song called Honeywine and the loser takes the other out to dinner. And that’s the song I sent her a few days later.
Did she send anything back?
Yeah, she recorded one too. It’s unreleased but it’s a damn good song. She’ll put it out one day, she’s working on a new project.
What does honey wine taste like? I’m almost afraid now.
Well, this one had been fermenting in the back of a car for who knows how long, so it wasn’t good. It just tastes like apple wine, like champagne almost.
Mmm. Trunk champagne. (Laughter) I want to ask about this implication you made on “Years from Now.” Do you think that the only time you’ll have things all figured out is once you’ve left this earth?
I feel like figuring things out comes in gaps of time. I guess I can look back on high school and college and have it figured out now. But that doesn’t do me any good back then. You kind of realize things in little chunks and chapters. I guess you’ll have it all figured out at the end of life. Whatever’s the great unknown.
So you’re thinking you won’t have right now figured out until you’re looking back on it years later?
I think all we can do is use all the information we’ve been given and all the mistakes we’ve made to try to have a clue now. But just wait five years and you’ll be like “I thought I had it figured out back then but I didn’t know anything.” Life’s always changing and you’re always learning. I think we’ll look back and remember all the fun stuff. And we’ll laugh at anything that ever gave us trouble. I remember every time I got caught drinking underage in high school I thought my life was over. But now, I can laugh about it with my mom.
Trevor Christian hosts the radio show Country Pocket on Long Island’s WUSB 90.1 FM, which can be streamed at wusb.fm
