Original Flatland Cavalry Member Jonathan Saenz No Longer with Band
Bass player and original member of the 3-time Academy of Country Music-nominated Flatland Cavalry is no longer with the band according to numerous sources. Jonathan Saenz does not appear in the recent promotional photos of the band, and he was not on tour with the band when they opened recently for Kacey Musgraves. His name has also been moved to “past members” on the band’s Wikipedia page.
It appears Saenz played his last show with the band on or around August 17th at the Whitewater Amphitheater in New Braunfels, TX. Neither the band nor Saenz has addressed the departure publicly. Saving Country Music reached out to representatives of Flatland Cavalry for confirmation or more information, but those requests were not responded to.
Cleto Cordero started Flatland Calvary with drummer Jason Albers, guitarist Reid Dillon, fiddle player Laura Jane, and Jonathan Saenz in 2014. Laura Jane left the band in 2018, and was replaced by Wesley Hall. Multi-instrumentalist Adam Gallegos joined the band in 2020. Guitarist John Marlin has also been playing with the band in concert recently.
At the shows Flatland Cavalry played opening for Kacey Musgraves at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on September 27th and 28th, producer Dwight A. Baker was seen playing bass. Baker has produced much of Flatland’s music.
Flatland Cavalry just released a deluxe version of their latest album called Work of Heart – Heartstrings on October 2nd that includes five new songs. Originally from West Texas, the band continues to receive a lot of national exposure by getting on big opening slots, and being nominated for big awards.
October 4, 2026 @ 11:47 am
I don’t know this band or, obviously, the bass player.
October 4, 2026 @ 1:07 pm
You’re a country fan and don’t know Flatland Cavalry?
October 4, 2026 @ 2:48 pm
Some of us don’t. Sorry.
October 4, 2026 @ 3:04 pm
Well, I guess this is why this website exists so people like you can read about interesting bands and now you at least know OF the band.
Personally, I like the band but not too fussed who the bass player is.
However, its interesting to keep track of how stable/fluid the music scene is.
A lot of readers really appreciate Trigger’s dedication to bringing us news from the music scene even from lesser known artists.
October 4, 2026 @ 3:25 pm
Exactly.
Had no idea who Tab Benoit was, until read about him here.
Corncaster and Tele fueled my curiosity.
October 4, 2026 @ 7:11 pm
I have published 17 dedicated articles on Flatland Cavalry over the years, and mentioned or featured them in dozens more. They’ve played almost all the major festivals I regularly cover. They have been a major part of the Texas/Red Dirt scene for years. They’ve been nominated the last three years for the ACM’s Group Of the Year, which gives them significant mainstream exposure. Sure, that doesn’t mean everyone has heard of them. But to act like this article or a mention of Flatland Cavalry is completely out of the blue or they’re some obscure band is absolutely ludicrous.
Similar to the “I’ve never heard of Ella Langley” narrative, I guess we live in a moment where people pleading ignorance makes them feel superior.
October 4, 2026 @ 7:40 pm
Trigger who?
October 7, 2026 @ 5:37 am
I saw them in Richmond VA earlier this year and they were great live! I’ll definetly see them again if they come back
October 4, 2026 @ 5:22 pm
I mean I only know them because they came up once or twice in my music and I thought it was the most cliche generic crap id heard in a while. It’s like Caamp for country fans. Triggers a fan, I clearly see that, but I don’t really get why. Sorry trigger…
October 4, 2026 @ 7:16 pm
Whether you like Flatland Cavalry, or I like Flatland Cavalry, or you think their music is generic, it doesn’t have anything to do with this simple news item that the founding bass player is gone. Clearly, it’s a band that has fans. Nobody questioned when I reported on the bass player for Silverada leaving. They have 176K monthly listeners on Spotify. Flatland Cavalry has 3.3 million. I was simply looking to inform the public with this info. I’m a journalist and a critic. It’s not my job to be a “fan” of anyone. It’s my job to report the news. This is news.
October 5, 2026 @ 1:48 am
I’m not saying you are, in merely commenting in response to the first comment, but you also choose to cover bands that interest you and you also review albums in which you let us know your opinion on them. That’s more than what reporters merely do as you have both editorial and critical discretion both of which lean into Flatland which is fine. Because of that (and Spotify) I’ve given them a shake and found their music to be fairly generic and lacking a certain emotional connection as some of their red dirt peers (namely Zach Bryan and turnpike, whom I also got into reading your posts on them). That’s all
October 4, 2026 @ 1:24 pm
Somehow you are reading Saving Country Music yet don’t know flatland? Maybe you should have kept scrolling
October 4, 2026 @ 12:16 pm
He must have been hitting on Kaitlin Butts
October 5, 2026 @ 1:15 am
Grabbing Butts can get you in deep shit.
October 4, 2026 @ 3:24 pm
People have no idea what goes on within the inner workings of a professional band. They don’t see the personal and financial toll it takes on the musicians and their families/loved ones. Many of our favorites, as we’ve recently seen, barely survive the delicate balance of personalities, different goals, being on the road etc….
I remember during the pandemic it was tough for everyone, and Jonathan was offering bass lessons to younger players online. I’ve seen the Cavalry several times, and just like Omar, Jonathan is a pro and one of the best. This is not an easy business, it’s going to get harder. I support all my friends no matter what lineup changes they go through because I love them and their music.
October 4, 2026 @ 5:17 pm
I know a professional fiddle player here who was just denied a loan for buying a house because it’s not a stable job being a musician. Definitely tough out there.
October 4, 2026 @ 7:20 pm
I understand what you’re saying JB, but I don’t know if this is really relevant to this situation. If you’re opening for Kacey Musgraves and Luke Combs on tour, riding around in a bus, eating catering in the bowels of an arena every night, and have 3.3 million Spoitfy listeners per month, getting nominated for ACM Awards, it’s unlikely hardship that is making you leave a band. It could be mental health. He could have been fired. But I don’t think it has anything to do with not being able to make ends meet, unless they were cutting him out of his fair share or something.
October 4, 2026 @ 8:25 pm
Yeah, I was talking more in generalities of all musicians, not really just about him at this point, but during the pandemic he (just like many others) was not on salary, and they weren’t as big as they are now. Many folks don’t understand that for full time touring players who get no royalties, no gigs equal no income, and rarely do bands split whatever an opening slot pays equally. Who decides who gets how much, etc…..Everyone thinks “opening” for whoever wherever at the Enormodome is always lucrative when sometimes part of an artists pay is in “exposure dollars”…lol
October 4, 2026 @ 3:33 pm
Love Flatland Cavalry. They just had their first song to chart on the MediaBase airplay chart, peaking at No. 30 a week or so ago — “Never Comin’ Back.” It did well on one of our local mainstream country stations here in northern New England, and one of the DJs was constantly saying great things about it on air, but the big-city stations owned by the big conglomerates wouldn’t touch it. Gotta admit it was weird hearing Flatland Cavalry played back to back with Dan + Shay or Russell Dickerson.
October 5, 2026 @ 12:18 am
It’s s pity. Jonathan Saenz came across as very likable, and Flatland Cavalry always cultivated an image of a close-knit group of friends. Of course, that is just an image. Even though most bands have standout members, like Cleto Cordero in Flatland Cavalry, all band members shape a band’s image. And whenever the lineup changes, the image inevitably shifts to some extent. Perhaps that is why solo artists are so much more successful, particularly in country music: they often project a clearer image that people can identify with, or use as a canvas for all sorts of projections.
Maybe I’m wrong with that and yes, the image of solo artists can shift dramatically (Sturgill Simpson a.k.a. Johnny Blue Skies f.e.), but they still remain the same person. Maybe a band is still the same band after a lineup change, but it feels different. I’m very interested in what other people in this forum think about that topic.
October 5, 2026 @ 6:07 am
Pretty sure he played at the St. Louis concert on August 20 as well.
October 5, 2026 @ 11:15 am
Was he a songwriting contributor? If so, it’ll be interesting to see how that affects future releases.
October 5, 2026 @ 7:36 pm
I find it weird that they released the new album, then started releasing singles that weren’t on the album, and then re-released the album with 5 new tracks that included the post release singles. What is that all about? Anyway, it’s a good but not great album with a few choice cuts. Overall, it feels too slow and “easy listening” for my tastes. That said, I love a few of their earlier albums and many of their songs. This one just feels too light – kinda the same way I feel about Wilder Blue’s Cinco. Some good songs but no edge to these albums. IMHO.
October 7, 2026 @ 5:40 am
I agree with you but that’s why I like them. I mostly listen to metalcore and deathcore songs these days but I also love flatland Cavalry and put them on when I want to relax