The Players

• JJ Grey
  vocals, guitar,
  harmonica,
  keyboards


• Daryl Hance
  guitar


• Art Edmaiston
  saxophone


• Dennis Marion
  trumpet


• Andrew Trube
  bass


• Anthony Farrell
  organ


• Anthony Cole
  drums



Players
(past & sometimes present)

• Adam Scone
• George Sluppick
• Fabrice Quentin
• Craig Barnette
• Mike Shapiro
• Nathan Shepherd
• Bea Gayle
• Tim Stombaugh
• Steve Cybulski
• Ian Hendrickson-Smith
• Dave Guy
• Cochemea Gastelum
• Alex Norris
• Chris Davis

more > Publicity Materials

• Bio (PDF)
• Handbill 8.5x11 4-up (PDF)
• Poster 11x17 (PDF)
• Logos (JPEG)
• Logos (EPS)

Press Photos

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more > What They Say

New York Times Review

Out of the Swamp, Dripping With Both Wildness and Cool

In the first few moments of Friday morning, J J Grey was in the middle of a lean, casually nimble guitar solo, sounding a bit like a young Jerry Garcia. His band, Mofro, had a lock on a sharply credible funk groove, playing “Ho Cake,” a tune from its 2001 debut. Some in the crowd at the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza were reacting with gawkily un-self-conscious dance moves. For the moment Mr. Grey and his crew were doing a fine impersonation of a jam band.

For much of the previous hour, though, Mofro had delivered something murkier, deeper and more measured, if no less assertive in its rhythm. Mr. Grey, from Jacksonville, Fla., makes a loose derivation of Southern swamp rock, with undercurrents of Memphis soul. His songs chronicle ambiguous truths and unambiguous urges, occasionally lighting on a righteous cause.

The show’s biggest singalong was on “Lochloosa,” a wistful ballad inspired by the Florida lake and wildlife area of that name. “All we need is one more damn developer/Tearing her heart out,” Mr. Grey sang in his urgent drawl.

The set otherwise drew mainly from “Orange Blossoms” (Alligator), a sturdy album released last year. And, among other things, it suggested that Mofro has one of the great unhurried rhythm sections in rock, capable of heavy track-laying but comfortable with airy fluctuation. “Move It On,” a molasses-dipped entreaty, involved sinuous bass lines doubled on Hammond B-3 organ. “Higher You Climb,” a bitter scold of a song, featured a tersely chugging groove.

Mr. Grey’s bleary take on soul singing felt winningly uncontrived, and his rapport with the six other members of Mofro, including a two-piece horn section, couldn’t have been clearer. Every now and then, during one of his pithy guitar solos, he turned to exchange grins with Anthony Cole, a terrific drummer. By the show’s final encore, a rave-up gospel version of “Got My Mojo Working,” Mr. Grey was huffing hard through a harmonica while the band, loose but driving, flailed on.
Jambase Reviews Orange Blossoms

JJ Grey & MOFRO have been gradually making a name for themselves since the early side of this decade, and following this summer's release of their fourth studio album, Orange Blossoms, it looks like things are going to keep getting bigger and bigger for the front porch soul man from Jacksonville, Florida. The 2007 release of Country Ghetto saw JJ Grey's music break out into a larger audience with the help of quality promotion and a good deal of radio play. But with Orange Blossoms, it's starting to seem as though Grey and his MOFRO cohorts are finally being seen and heard with the crossover appeal they've held from the start.
Orange Blossoms in USA TODAY Picks of the Week

USA TODAY Pick of the Week: "Orange Blossoms"
allmusic Orange Blossoms Album Review

By: Hal Horowitz
It's difficult to find a review of JJ Grey's music that doesn't use the word "swamp" to describe his blend of deep Southern soul and murky funk. So that's taken care of in the first sentence here, which leaves plenty of room to focus on his fourth album's low-key yet surging backwoods R&B. The disc's title and title track refer to Grey's home state of Florida's official flower, but there is little that is floral or sunshiny about his music. Rather, the Jacksonville-based Grey prefers to hover in the gloaming, layering horns and backing vocals over grinding, midtempo blue-eyed soul. This is the most elaborately produced of his albums, but like the chitlin' circuit blues in his blood, there is nothing slick about it. Similar to the illicit affair at the heart of "Everything Good Is Bad," the disc's only cover (the original was done by the obscure act 100 Proof [Aged in Soul]), Grey's music generally stays in the shadows. The funeral piano that opens "She Don't Know" is jazzy yet ominous and sounds as humid and muggy as his hometown on an August night. Ditto for the strings that appear at the song's end and pop up like wild weeds throughout this dozen-song set. Grey has matured into a compelling vocalist and it is his emotional yet subtle singing that elevates this already powerful material. His sluggish Southern drawl on the funky "WYLF" (short for "what you're looking for") infuses a laconic, easygoing, almost lazy feel, a distinguishing characteristic of his style. That's brought into sharp relief on the sticky, sweaty sex of "Move It On," a sly, nearly seven-minute deliberate groover that sounds like something the Temptations might have recorded if they had been bred in the South. Although Grey deserves the bulk of the credit for this disc's unassuming success, longtime co-producer Dan Prothero (who has worked on every Grey/Mofro project) and in-the-pocket drummer Anthony Cole are crucial elements of the stealthy vibe. It's an album that grows on you slowly like moss at the base of a withered old tree and transports you to the dank, mosquito-infested bayou at the heart of Grey's evocative sound.