Parallel

Album: Songs To Keep You Warm (2022)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Fronted by Cleto Cordero, Flatland Cavalry is a country band that formed in Lubbock, Texas, in 2012. Since then, they've done a lot of touring to build their fanbase and promote their albums. But being on the road away from loved ones is a lonely experience, which Cordero relates on "Parallel," a duet with Ashley Monroe.

    In a 2022 Songfacts interview, he described the tune as a love story about being connected to somebody across time and space. It's a subject close to his heart, considering he and his wife, singer Kaitlin Butts, are often separated when their careers take them in different directions.

    "She literally has the same dream that I have," Cordero elaborated in a Wide Open Country interview. "She knows that I'm out here working and not messing around because we're both doing the same thing. It's given us a lot of empathy toward one another and makes it that much sweeter when we are able to be together in the same place."
  • Ashley Monroe is a member of the country trio Pistol Annies with Miranda Lambert and Angaleena Presley. She met with Flatland Cavalry as a songwriter, and when she hit it off in the writing room with Cordero, he asked her to sing on this.
  • After venturing out of their native West Texas to record their third album, Welcome To Countryland, in Nashville with producer Jake Gear, Flatland Cavalry went back home to cut Songs To Keep You Warm with fellow Texan Bruce Robison at the helm. Robison, the songwriter behind the Dixie Chicks' "Travelin' Soldier" and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill's "Angry All The Time," brought a note of warmth to an EP destined for chilly fall weather during their sessions at The Bunker in Lockhart, Texas.

    "I freaking love the way that studio sounds," Cordero told The Boot. "It's so pure and warm."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Hawksley Workman

Hawksley WorkmanSongwriter Interviews

One of Canada's most popular and eclectic performers, Hawksley tells stories about his oldest songs, his plentiful side projects, and the ways that he keeps his songwriting fresh.

Bill Medley of The Righteous Brothers

Bill Medley of The Righteous BrothersSongwriter Interviews

Medley looks back on "Unchained Melody" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" - his huge hits from the '60s that were later revived in movies.

John Parr

John ParrSongwriter Interviews

John tells the "St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" story and explains why he disappeared for so long.

Pam Tillis

Pam TillisSongwriter Interviews

The country sweetheart opines about the demands of touring and talks about writing songs with her famous father.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' Albums

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.