For the last few weeks, All The Great Aviators Agree by Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags has been on heavy rotation. It’s a solid set of lively, good-timing country made for bars and hanging out on porches. The songs are accessible and should appeal to fans of both alt. and more mainstream country. Barr isn’t pushing the genre, but when the quality of the songwriting and musicianship remain consistently high throughout the album it doesn’t matter at all. The mix of classic rock chords and country twang just sounds good.
Barr’s slightly scratchy, warm voice and clear vocals are perfect for his clever and catchy story songs. The album is full of good lines, those turn of phrases that add that an essential detail to the story and draw out a grin. “Fall Hard” includes a couple hard luck tales, but my favorite is “I guess she only lied to me twice /once when she drank all my whiskey /the other when she stole my wife.” It’s a punchline wrapped in a vignette that let’s the imagination fill in the rest. “Juanita” has a great sing-along chorus and includes a description of a girl I’d love to meet: “she sells sea shells, guns, and monkey parts.”
If you like those two songs, check out “She’s Happy”, another one of my favorites. You can stream the entire album on Scotland Barr’s website. Or just pick up the album. You won’t be disappointed.
All The Great Aviators Agree is available now on Monkey Bar Records.
Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags: website | myspace
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[...] and Portland (my adopted home). Although I had been hoping to hear my favorite tracks off of All the Great Aviators Agree, he only played his new songs and I was blown away. The songs were less boisterous, mixing in more [...]