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A billion streams is a flex, but it doesn’t explain how you get there, or what it costs to keep it going. We’re hanging with Cleto Cordero of Flatland Cavalry to talk about the real build: traveling the country, earning fans one show at a time, and turning a garage dream into a worldwide Texas country music career that’s now reaching places like Australia and New Zealand.

Cleto walks me through the moments that shaped him: getting a guitar at 14, learning to play during Lent when the TVs got unplugged, and writing a song in high school that made people cry and kickstarted what he wanted to do with his life. We dig into the craft of songwriting, how a song has only a few minutes of “real estate,” and why the studio version of a track can involve different musicians, different parts, and a whole lot of humility in service of the song.

Then we bring it back to what we do at Meat Church: food, family, and the stories that happen around the table. We talk comfort food, Cleto’s love of cooking from his mom’s kitchen, and why chile verde is the kind of Southwestern classic that brings people together fast. We also pour some serious bourbon, including Blanton’s Straight From The Barrel, plus a wild story about playing music inside Buffalo Trace’s iconic Warehouse C.

If you’re into BBQ, we also relive a brisket disaster that literally caught fire, get honest about smoker choices, and talk about what it means to keep your heart in your work when the dream job starts feeling like work. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves Texas country and barbecue, and leave a review so more people can find the show.