JJ GREY SOLO ACOUSTIC
INDY CD & VINYL - INDIANAPOLIS, IN
About JJ Grey & MOFRO
Q & A with JJ
Other Loves?
Surfing, eating, farming, shrimping, fishingOn Music?
"I believe where I growed up has a sound. Kind of like how every place has a certain feel whether there are people there or not.""I never noticed the land's effect on me musically til the land was gone."
"Memories can take me as high as a kite or gut me like a hog, and when I sing or write a song you may get either one at any time depending on how I feel at the moment."
On The Environment?
"People thank me all the time for my 'environmental stand'. I'm proud that they do but, I'm not sure exactly what they mean. I also get asked a lot if I think we can 'save' the environment. I don't really believe in an environment. I LOVE MY HOME. My home is the real world to me. The real world with all the animals and plants and trees and everything else natural. I guess that is technically my environment but I don't reckon I'm it's steward. People get out there and travel all over protesting without looking at how they really see the REAL world right there where they live. The idea that we need to save everybody and everything is a little too self-important for me, and seems like that very same attitude is what's got us in this predicament in the first place. I reckon if we all truly loved our own land then we wouldn't have any of these problems. But if we continue to have to look at TV to find out about our environment as though it were something separate from us, and if we continue to pretend that vacationing in the mountains with our kids is the same as striking a balance with your own land at home then we'll continue to stay in big trouble."On Religion?
"I keep that one for myself."On Politics?
"Small groups of individuals are generally great, large groups of citizens usually suck.""Looking at politics is like watching pro wrestling. A lot of hooting, hollering and carrying on with no real conclusion. A good guy today is the bad guy tomorrow, it's all scripted and everybody knows it but some folks still enjoy believing in both of them."
On The South?
"The place I was born. No better, no worse than anywhere else on this planet. As humans we're all capable of just about anything good or bad. I love where I live and where I'm from.""I've always felt that the American buffalo and the southern culture have something in common. Both have been hunted to damn near extinction. And like the buffalo who were killed only for their hide and tongue the South has routinely been picked over with the best parts being given to the whole world as 'belonging to everyone', while southerners remain the sole airs of ignorance and slavery."
"Southern living is like life to the 10th power and that ain't always a good thing. We are violent but we have manners, we are neighborly but ready to go to war, we boldly preach from the bible but drink and party the night before. For how ever much hatefulness can be attributed to this place just as much good old fashion love can be found here too."
On Race?
"Only a fool would believe that there's no such thing as injustice racial or otherwise in the world today but then again only a fool would believe there's really a thing called justice.""The fact that I've never been able to take my eyes off a beautiful woman no matter what race, religion, or creed she's from has always been proof enough for me that we're all the same no matter how you slice it."
On Life?
"I've loved the experience so far."
< back to the bio
The Players
Art Edmaiston
saxophone
Dennis Marion
trumpet
Anthony Cole
drums- 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
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Players
(past & sometimes present)
more > Publicity Materials
Press Photos
(click for print-ready size):
more > What They Say
Orange Blossoms Review - Blurt Online
There's nothing particularly different about this MOFRO album - it's just a stronger distillation of the band's vision. Like the three previous very fine records, the focus is on JJ Grey's soulful, deep-south vocals and earthy tales while the sticky, slow-grinding funk grooves of the band push the songs along. But like they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it, and this might be MOFRO's best effort yet.
There's a celebratory vibe to the chorus of the title track while the introspective last cut "I Believe (In Everything),"with its liquid guitar line, full-bodied horns and gospel backing vocals, is enough to draw a tear. Packed between are ten more songs that move from the ominous piano crawl of "She Don't Know" to the juke joint banger "On Fire" to the sympathetic strings working with understated harmonica on "Dew Drops." While the tempos dip and sway they're always covered by shadows and thick air.
JJ Grey & MOFRO are one of the preeminent southern soul-blues bands of the day. Everything is rooted in Grey's Florida backwater roots and the man is the real deal. Orange Blossoms is the newest chapter of a timeless band with legs to run the long race. Like the state flower that adorns this album's cover, each time MOFRO deliver an album you can smell the place as it instantly transports you to Grey's back porch staring out over the swamp.
Standout Tracks: "Dew Drops," "I Believe (In Everything)" AARON KAYCE
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.
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.
