Portland, Oregon-based six-piece Americana/rock outfit Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags recall Jayhawks, Drive by Truckers, Old 97’s, Steve Earle, Bob Dylan, Wallflowers, Kris Kristofferson, J. Webb, Townes VanZant, and Gram Parsons on their sophomore full-length, “All The Great Aviators Agree” (Monkey Barr Music).
Redefining “roots”, Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags draw inspiration from The Beach Boys and Warren Zevon as much as they do from Merle Haggard or Gram Parsons.  Jangly-pop, gutbucket country, urban-folk, 60¹s psychedelia, and straight-up rock all meet in a sound that has been called “West Coast Roots”.
Comprised of Scotland Barr (vocals, rhythm guitar), Chris Hubbard (keyboard, accordion, vocals), Bryan Daste (pedal steel, theremin, saxophone, vocals), Zach Hinkelman (lead guitar, vocals), Nick Kostenborder (drums), and Pat Munson (bass), this outfit delivers with a big heart capable of severe extremes with “All The Great Aviators Agree”.
Smokey vocals grapple with soaring 4-part harmonies, keyboards tangle with overdriven guitar, pedal steel bends around an acoustic 6 string, drums irreverently confuse country and rock, all recalling something achingly familiar yet distinctively singular.
But, this is nothing out of the ordinary for the six-piece outfit, a band that has been working on melding and blending the sunshine and melody of pop with the dusty, dark roads of country since their 2005 debut, “Legionnaires Disease” (Monkey Barr Music).
Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags originally came together as a studio project in early 2005, entering Portland, Oregon¹s 8 Ball Studio with a handful of songs.  With the help of Portland musicians such as Chris Robley, Jon Itkin, Steve Wilkinson, Rich Landar, Derek Brown (The Eels), Tim Huggins, Marilee Horde, and Skip Vonkuske, Barr emerged with “Legionnaires Disease”.
From there, Barr¹s band, The Slow Drags, were formed.  Word of the record spread amongst Portland¹s music community and soon he found himself with a handful of players who wanted to play with him.
The band then set out to make an EP, which ended up becoming their sophomore full-length, something that surprised and excited the band.
Not bad for a front man that has played Johnny Cash¹s guitar, been thrown off a 30-foot cliff, and only been to rehab once.
With its release slated for spring 2008, they plan to tour relentlessly and spread the word that “All The Great Aviators Agree” at least on one thing: Scotland Barr & The Slow Drags.