Rating: 6/10

While Americana is out there struggling to define itself and make itself viable as a format, Texas country and Red dirt remain oblivious, churning out new talent as frequently as Nashville and boasting their own charts and festivals, all while placing greater value on songwriting and giving more freedom to the artists. The result is that even the commercial side of the format is often smarter lyrically than the majority of what Nashville has to offer, and the more substantive songwriters find greater reception of and appreciation for their music as well. The other side to this is that the Texas scene often falls into a trap in which it doesn’t receive criticism because even if it’s not fantastic, the music is consistently better than in Nashville. But if Texas is to be considered a true alternative to Nashville, then its artists must be subject to the same criticism given to the mainstream. Indeed, the scene should welcome it as a form of validation, but we rarely see this with critics and reviewers in Texas and Red Dirt music because it’s hard to criticize something that was delivered with heart and sincerity and is the music the artist wanted to make.

Flatland Cavalry’s latest record perfectly represents this duplicity in the Texas scene, finding itself in a place where it’s miles ahead of much of Nashville but rather average in the place from which it originated. Its writing is strong, excellent in some places, offering smart lyrics and accessible melodies. It is an intelligently written album that will still be quite catchy live. But live is where it will have to shine because the production on so much of this is frankly a mess. The end result is a good album that is somewhat ruined by production, making it better than the mainstream but quite mediocre in the grand scheme of things.

But there are some truly great moments on this record. “Back to me,” though it is a little hampered by the previously mentioned production, is a lovely song about the ups and downs of long-distance relationships. It’s followed by “Living by Moonlight,” anchored by a healthy does of fiddle and speaking of spending the days in darkness, living in bars and trying to ignore the rest of the world. “Come Back Down,” the album opener, is another strong moment, as the narrator sings about finally coming back home after spending time away and taking his home and family for granted. “Pretty Women” is a well-written look at the way women try to hide their problems with fancy clothes and makeup, and this one also features a ton of fiddle. “Honeywine” is a catchy, infectious love song that stands out as well, helped along by the harmonies of Kaitlin Butts which appear frequently throughout the record and add some nice color.

But too often, the writing is overshadowed by bad production choices. This is by far the most obvious in “Other side Of Lonesome,” which would have been a fine song if it didn’t sound like Cleto Cordero was singing from inside the bottom of a barrel. It’s nothing short of terrible, and I really question how anyone in the band thought it actually sounded ready for distribution. I’ve seen it offered that Flatland Cavalry were attempting to go for a lonesome sound similar to that on Red Shahan’s and Marty Stuart’s latest albums, but if so, this was a lazy attempt, as none of the instruments were produced like this at all, only the vocals. So it was either a very poor attempt at pulling off that sound or the more likely instance of just plain awful production.

This is the worst instance, but production issues cloud much of the record. The drums are buried in the mix throughout most of the album, a notable exception being on “Pretty Women,” and Cordero’s vocals, though never as badly produced as on “Other Side of lonesome,” echo the same issues in various places throughout the album. He also sounds completely bored on “ashes,” rendering that song quite forgettable. The whole thing sounds very unfinished, and if they’d just taken the time to clean up this record some, it would have improved significantly. As it is, too much of it sounds like a well-written but badly produced demo, a first draft waiting to be mastered and perfected. It will probably be fantastic live because these songs are strong lyrically and melodically, but in album form, too many of these just didn’t work.

Fundamentally, this is a good album. It could have been and should have been a much better one. There are some truly standout moments, where the writing really shines. The lyrics and melodies are strong, and when the production doesn’t get in the way, these songs really stand out and show the potential of this record and of Flatland Cavalry. But so much of this album is a mess in terms of production, and unfortunately, it renders a good record very average and completely ruins a couple songs. Flatland cavalry are better than the album they’ve released, and overall, it’s a pretty disappointing effort given the level of talent they possess.

Buy the Album

The Good

The Bad