Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags

In the liner notes of Scotland Barr and the Slow Drags’ Legionnaire’s Disease, there’s a quote attributed to Charlie Parker: “Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” Listening to Barr sing about watching his life from the bottom of a glass so he doesn’t have to think about tomorrow — or about the girl he always loved when she cried — you get the feeling the guy’s been through some shit. Dude’s lived it, and it comes out of his dust-soaked vocals, which recall Shane McGowan once upon a time in the West, minus the drunken slurs. While Barr and company hail from Portland, Oregon, it sounds like they spent five years in Nashville honing their country chops before taking the southern route — with swings through Texas and Arizona — back home.