How a Flatland Cavalry Band Tour Through the UK Will Promote Lubbock

Lubbock has been a State of Texas recognized Music Friendly City since August 2020. Osborne highlighted Lubbock’s rich music heritage, particularly the contributions of Buddy Holly (1936-1959) to modern rock and roll. Lubbock is home to the Buddy Holly Hall, Buddy Holly Center, Buddy Holly Drive, and Crickets Avenue.

“Did you know that the name, The Beatles, came from a trend Buddy Holly started?” Osborne said. Holly’s band was named Buddy Holly and the Crickets, which made insects a popular motif in band names when The Beatles formed in 1960. The Beatles debuted about a year after Buddy Holly’s tragic death in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa.

In modern times, Flatland Cavalry is a significant success story emerging from the northern Texas country music circuit that spans from Lubbock to the Fort Worth Stockyards through San Angelo and Stephenville. Formed in 2012 by college roommates Cordero and Jason Albers in Midland, the duo moved to Lubbock in 2014 and formed the unique sound of the band, including the fiddle. Flatland Cavalry released its first EP in 2015, followed by a full-length album in 2016. The band built a strong reputation on the Texas country music circuit before gaining attention in Nashville and now tours around the world.

Flatland Cavalry follows in the footsteps of other Texas country music stars who have emerged since the Buddy Holly days, including Texas Tech alum Pat Green’s rise to stardom in the early 2000s with the hit single “Wave on Wave.” Other notable Tech alums include Wade Bowen (“Who Am I?”, “Mood Ring”, “God Bless This Town”), Josh Abbott (“Oh, Tonight”, “She’s Like Texas”), and William Clark Green (“Rose Queen”).

Osborne recognized the rich recent history of live music flowing out of Lubbock and saw an opportunity to capitalize on the area’s music heritage by focusing on present rising stars.

Visit Lubbock, through a vendor, will host hospitality events at all the UK performances of Flatland Cavalry. Osborne aims to provide travel and tourism media with exposure to Lubbock’s rich music heritage, believing it will eventually lead to increased hotel occupancy from tourists.

“The music from here has tremendous influence in England, Germany, and even Australia,” Osborne said.

The hospitality effort with the UK Flatland tour will cost Visit Lubbock about $25,000 from the organization’s $4.9 million annual budget. Osborne believes it’s a worthwhile investment.

The Flatland Cavalry hospitality opportunity emerged during a Lubbock City Council discussion about the extra $584,000 the city owed to Visit Lubbock for its FY2023 Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) allotment. For 2023, the council allotted HOT by percentages of the total collected that fiscal year.

Hotel occupancy and resulting tax revenue are soaring in Lubbock, Osborne said. City hotels consistently maintain over 60 percent occupancy monthly. Osborne noted that hotel business activity is reaching levels reminiscent of the early 2010s when new hotels were being built all over the city.

The council approved allotting the extra $584,000 to Visit Lubbock. For FY2024, the current budget, HOT revenues are allotted on a fixed basis, not by percentages. Based on the fixed-rate budget, Visit Lubbock receives about 52 percent of HOT revenues to promote tourism and book conventions.

HOT revenues are generated by a hotel tax of 15 percent. The State of Texas receives 6 percent, the City of Lubbock gets 7 percent, and Lubbock County receives 2 percent. The money is mandated to be spent on travel and tourism promotions for each taxing entity.