Flatland Forever (Interscope, 2024)

Some may argue that Flatland Cavalry is a bit full of themselves by issuing this career retrospective after only 10 years on the circuit. Granted, they have been prolific with six full-length albums, multiple EPs and singles. Record contracts also often specify a certain number of albums in a given time period. "Flatland Forever" contains 25 tracks of classics, demos and unheard until now offerings. Maybe it is just the band reflecting on where they've been and where they are headed. Nonetheless, if you've not heard their previous material, you can catch up in one fell swoop.

The half Texas/half Nashville band remains as vocalist Cleto Cordero, drummer Jason Albers, bassist Jonathan Saenz, guitarist Reid Dillon, multi-instrumentalist Adam Gallegos and newest member, Wesley Hall, on fiddle.

The band has scattered the four new songs throughout the sequence. "Three Car Garage" is the single, with a soft acoustic beginning. This love story blossoms into rapid-fire picking and a chorus that may induce singing along. "Lubbock" is a yearning ballad that morphs into a hoedown, with overly sugary lyrics as they draw on their roots. While it could have been a series of name dropping - Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock, Terry Allen and more; the band made the sensible choice of citing only Buddy Holly. "Countryman" speaks to their pride in who they are, what they've become, rugged, but neighborly too. The fourth one, the waltzing closer "Chasing a Feeling" also has plenty of looks to the past and is one of Cordero's best vocals, as they reminisce about their beginnings as a barroom band.

Newcomers to the band should also seek out these tracks for both potent solos and group harmonies - "No Shade of Green," "Summertime Love," "One I Want" and "Sleeping Alone." Rather than aiming for commercialism, the band comes across authentically and their songs are often so good that they get airplay anyway. It's a band that straddles the lines of folk, bluegrass, Americana and classic country with ease. It's an enduring approach as this collection attests to.