Monday Morning Memes: A Star is Born, FGL, Flatland Cavalry

Kaitlin Butts & Cleto Cordero Cover "It Ain't Me Babe"

Flatland Cavalry & Kaitlyn Butts Perform "A Life Where We Work Out"

Trailer's Top 30 Albums of 2016

We'll turn loose of 2016 with one more post. Trailer's Top 30 of 2016. This is what the "Top Albums of 2016" list would've looked like if we didn't do a group vote now. 

 1. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
2. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle
3. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks
4. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town
5. Cody Jinks - I'm Not the Devil
6. Justin Wells - Dawn in the Distance
7. Austin Lucas - Between the Moon and the Midwest
8. Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost
9. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
10. Brent Cobb - Shine On Rainy Day
11. Kelsey Waldon - I've Got a Way
12. St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Sea of Noise
13. Gojira - Magma
14. Lydia Loveless - Real
15. Luke Bell - s/t
16. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
17. Paul Cauthen - My Gospel
18. Rob Baird - Wrong Side of the River
19. Mark Chesnutt - Tradition Lives
20. Quaker City Night Hawks - El Astronauta
21. Bonnie Raitt - Dig in Deep
22. Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings
23. Western Centuries - Weight of the World
24. BJ Barham - Rockingham
25. Metallica - Hardwired… to Self Destruct
26. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
27. Robert Ellis - s/t
28. Hayes Carll - Lovers and Leavers
29. Loretta Lynn - Full Circle
30. Erik Dylan - Heart of a Flatland Boy

Top 25 Albums of 2016: Trailer's 3/4 Report

 

Here's my top 25 list. It's fluid, as always, so this is just how I'm feeling about them today. 

The year-end list will be a composite from Farce the Music contributors, so it will look a lot 

different than this. There are also nearly 3 months more of new music to sort through... ~Trailer

Trailer's Top 25 Albums of 2016: 3/4 Report

1. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
2. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle
3. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks
4. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town
5. Austin Lucas - Between the Moon and the Midwest
6. St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Sea of Noise
7. Justin Wells - Dawn in the Distance
8. Cody Jinks - I'm Not the Devil
9. Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost
10. Kelsey Waldon - I've Got a Way
11. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
12. Gojira - Magma
13. Lydia Loveless - Real
14. Luke Bell - s/t
15. Robert Ellis - s/t
16. Rob Baird - Wrong Side of the River
17. Drive-by Truckers - American Band
18. Mark Chesnutt - Tradition Lives
19. Quaker City Night Hawks - El Astronauta
20. Bonnie Raitt - Dig in Deep
21. Hayes Carll - Lovers and Leavers
22. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
23. Western Centuries - Weight of the World
24. BJ Barham - Rockingham
25. Loretta Lynn - Full Circle

Favorite Albums of 2016: Mid-Year Report

This is Trailer's list of favorite albums. The year-end list will look a lot different because all 

Farce the Music's contributors will vote on it, there will be actual write-ups of the top albums, 

and besides... there are 6 more months in the year. 

 1. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

 

2. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks

 

3. Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost
 

 4. Gojira - Magma
 

5. Austin Lucas - Between the Moon and the Midwest
 

6. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town
 

7. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
 

8. Luke Bell - s/t
 

9. Robert Ellis - s/t
 

10. Rob Baird - Wrong Side of the River

11. Bonnie Raitt - Dig in Deep
12. Hayes Carll - Lovers and Leavers
13. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
14. Quaker City Night Hawks - El Astronauta
15. Western Centuries - Weight of the World
16. Loretta Lynn - Full Circle
17. Deftones - Gore
18. Chance the Rapper - Coloring Book
19. The Temperance Movement - White Bear (out July 22)
20. Parker Millsap - The Very Last Day
21. Band of Horses - Why Are You OK?
22. Larry Hooper - No Turning Back
23. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Let Me Get By
24. Southern Family
25. Robbie Fulks - Upland Stories
26. Candlebox - Disappearing in Airports
27. Arliss Nancy - Greater Divides
28. Dub Miller - The Midnight Ambassador
29. Chris King - Animal
30. Randy Rogers Band - Nothing Shines Like Neon
31. Wheeler Walker Jr. - Redneck Shit
32. The Honeycutters - On the Ropes
33. Rival Sons - Hollow Bones
34. YG - Still Brazy
35. The Cactus Blossoms - You're Dreaming
36. Mavis Staples - Livin' on a High Note
37. The Jayhawks - Paging Mr. Proust
38. Kyle Craft - Dolls of Highland
39. Bonnie Bishop - Ain't Who I Was
40. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - Nonagon Infinity

Flatland Cavalry Perform "One I Want"

From their new album Humble Folks.

Favorite Albums of 2016: First Quarter Report

(Note: This is only Trailer's Top 10 of 2016 so far and is subject to change. 

Our official list will be a combined effort from all contributors in December)

1. Hayes Carll - Lovers and Leavers (out Friday)

2. Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost

 

3. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks
 

4. Parker Millsap - The Very Last Day
 

5. Southern Family
 

6. Randy Rogers Band - Nothing Shines Like Neon
 

7. Bonnie Raitt - Dig in Deep
 

8. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
 

9. Loretta Lynn - Full Circle

 

10. The Cactus Blossoms - You're Dreaming

Album Review: Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks

Review by Trailer

This one hits the spot.

I haven't felt much like writing reviews for a while now. It's not that there hasn't been some good music put out this year - just nothing I felt I could put any passion into writing about. Also, since we've brought on the full-barrel punk energy of Robert Dean and the damn near peerless wordsmithery of Kevin Broughton, there hasn't been much need for my everyman type reviewing, but this new album from Flatland Cavalry has pulled me out of mothballs.

Flatland Cavalry's Humble Folks is also the first album of 2016 to stir up all the feelings I like to have when listening to music. From the wistfulness of "A Good Memory" to the driving introspection of "Devil Off My Back," the sentimental wanderlust of "Traveler's Song" to the sad-sack lamenting of "Goodbye Kiss," Humble Folks is a tour-de-force of emotions and textures.

"Easy on the ears, heavy on the heart" reads the description on Flatland Cavalry's website, and that couldn't be more accurate. Their sound is an easygoing mix of red dirt country, pop melodies, laid back swing, and heartworn folk. And there's so much fiddle. Lord, but I love me some fiddle and I love Laura Jane's fiddling. It's all a perfectly accessible approach but one that doesn't scrimp on the craftsmanship and songwriting.

"Tall City Blues" grabs you with its portrayal of loneliness and unfulfilled dreams amid the high-rises and concrete canyons of the city. You can just imagine the twenty-something small town boy taking the accounting job in Houston, then slowly realizing the "difference in making a living and loving what you do."

"Stompin' Grounds" rescues that dispirited fellow back to his home town where the Shiner is cheaper and colder and the people are warmer. There's a lot of that sort of longing in Flatland Cavalry's music - yearning for real interaction and authentic folks. It's a welcome and relatable desire in a world that seems to grow more mean and detached with every passing day.




Humble Folks is a great album; certainly one of my favorites of the early year, and well worth your listen. It's a familiar sound, but one that with repeated listens will reveal deeper layers and twists of melody you haven't heard before. These songs are sure to make you think, smile, hurt, and tap your foot. Sometimes all at once. That's what good music does.

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Flatland Cavalry is a no-doubter for fans of Turnpike Troubadours, Wade Bowen, The Damn Quails, and the like.

You can find Humble Folks on Lonestar Music , iTunes, etc.. (Out today)

New(ish) Video: Flatland Cavalry "February Snow"

From their forthcoming album, Humble Folks, out next Friday (April 1). RIYL: Reckless Kelly, The Departed, The Damn Quails, Turnpike Troubadours.