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| Alligator Records Signs Jj Grey & Mofro Alligator Records announceв the signing of down home roots, rock and soul artist JJ Grey & his band Mofro. Grey's Alligator debut, Country Ghetto, will be released in February 2007. Country Ghetto (produced by Dan Prothero) features 12 original JJ Grey compositions that come right out of the Southern musical and literary tradition. While his songwriting inspirations range from Bill Withers, Van Morrison, and Dan Penn, Grey's songs are always his own, oftentimes relating to the loss of his natural surroundings and the marginalization of the Southern culture he grew up in. Grey, with longtime musical partner, guitarist Daryl Hance, has released two previous albums under the band name Mofro: 2001's Blackwater (named by Amazon.com as one of the best CDs of the decade) and 2004's Lochloosa. From the beginning, Grey's songs have been connected to his ancestral Florida homestead 40 miles outside of Jacksonville, a landscape he writes about with passion and devotion. Grey's ear for detail inhabits his songs, whether it is a story passed down to him from his grandmother or the tribulations of a childhood friend. Grey's voice delivers them with an unflinching force that makes the personal universal and paints a vivid portrait of an exact time or place with words and music. Like his songs, his rich, soulful vocals are forceful and commanding, seemingly old beyond his years. Delivered with brilliant musicianship, the result is both thought provoking and rhythmically and texturally mesmerizing. Live, JJ Grey & Mofro blaze their own spontaneous path, performing at festivals and concerts around the world, including jaw-dropping shows at Bonnaroo, The Austin City Limits Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. From gritty funk to juke joint romps, from contemplative country soul to blistering rockers, JJ Grey & Mofro occupy a unique space in the music world. And, like the best of the great Southern novelists, JJ Grey fills his stories and songs with details that are at once vivid and personal, political and universal. The songs and the music will make you smell the cypress trees, feel the hot breeze, taste the ho-cakes, and remind you that home is where the heart is. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |