MOFRO
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| JJ Grey & MOFRO | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Jacksonville, Florida |
| Genre(s) | Soul, Funk, Blues, Rock, R&B |
| Years active | late 1990s–present |
| Label(s) | Fog City Records Alligator Records |
| Website | mofro.net [1] Mofro un-official fan site |
| Members | |
| JJ Grey Daryl Hance Adam Scone Art Edmaiston Dennis Marion Anthony "AC" Cole |
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JJ Grey & Mofro (formerly billed just as Mofro) is the musical brainchild of singer/songwriter JJ Grey. Grey first coined his blend of rhythm and blues, soul and funky rock and roll as "Mofro Magic" in 1997, based on the continuous southern slang being thrown around at a lumberyard in Jacksonville, Florida (JJ’s hometown) where he worked. Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern storytellers, and his songs often use the loss of his natural surroundings and the marginalization of the Southern culture he grew up in as metaphors in his lyrics.[citation needed] Later he would drop "Magic" from the name and, along with long-time friend and guitarist Daryl Hance, continue as Mofro. Grey’s open-door policy for his band has led to many lineup changes over the years, but the current line up has been his longest to date.
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[edit] Early years
JJ Grey was born in Jacksonville, Florida in October, 1967. He was raised on the west side of Jacksonville in a tiny community called Whitehouse. He received his first guitar as a Christmas present when he was 11 years old but the guitar was destroyed the very morning he got it when a neighbor accidentally backed over it in their car. Two years later he bought a red Western Auto True Tone guitar (he recently retired this guitar from tour duty) and an amplifier for ten dollars. "The guitar had only three strings on it and I eventually, through sheer laziness, gave up on learning how to play", stated Grey. The family had an old Lowery organ and he spent sometime on it before abandoning it as well. He quickly realized that he could sing with little effort and practiced emulating his favorite singers. Grey’s aunt and uncle had a Gospel group (they sing on the song "The Sun is Shining Down" on the Country Ghetto album with him) that influenced him greatly and when his parents were not looking he would watch local bands play in a juke joint behind his grandfather’s house in Baldwin. This would be the secular catalyst that would later send him down an R&B path.
[edit] Career
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In 1998 Grey was offered a record deal by the UK label Acid Jazz Records. At the time the label was run by music business legend Dave Robinson (co-founder of Stiff Records). It was Robinson who first offered Grey a recording contract and encouraged JJ to move to London. "He (Robinson) probably has no idea how much meeting him motivated me to get off my ass and get moving," stated Grey. In August of 1998 Grey moved to north London but upon arrival found that the label was involved in a legal battle over a newly opened nightclub. He then struck out on his own by placing ads in Melody Maker and NME for musicians to play some local shows. January of 1999 saw the first, Mofro show (at the time still billed as “Mofro Magic”) with JJ Grey, Daryl Hance (who had joined Grey in London) and an assorted cast of players from the local London music scene. At the time live music in London, which had flourished in the years prior to Grey’s arrival, was all but gone replaced by an explosion of various DJ oriented sounds. Grey then caught the interest of San Francisco label Fog City Records and decided to return home to Florida.
In May of 2000 Grey brought some of the London players back with him to the USA and along with Hance hit Retrophonics Studio in Crescent Beach, Florida to record the debut album Blackwater. The album, was produced and released by Dan Prothero on his label Fog City Records, was well received and critically acclaimed by Amazon.com as "One of the Ten Best R&B Albums of 2001".[citation needed] Acting as manager and booking agent Grey booked two full U.S. tours on his own and in April 2001 Mofro hit the road for the first set of dates. Sadly the second run of dates would never be played as on October 20, 2001 the first night of the second tour leg Grey, along with his wife, a former band mate and friend were hit from behind at extremely high speed in an auto accident that nearly claimed their lives. It took almost 6 months of physical recovery before Mofro was ready to hit the road again, but in February, 2001, JJ and company embarked on rest of the Blackwater Tour dates.
In March of 2003, JJ, along with Prothero, Hance, and a whole new cast of musicians, would hit the same studio again to record the second release Lochloosa, named after a Lake near Grey’s home in Florida. In 2004, Fog City Records licensed Lochloosa to Swampland Records who released the record later the same year. Like its predecessor, Lochloosa also received plenty of critical acclaim with Rolling Stone billing the album as "One of the ten best albums of the year".[citation needed] Immediately after its release in 2004, the newly vamped Mofro set out on the road in support of Lochloosa, playing many great festivals including Bonnaroo and the Austin City Limits Music Festival, continuing to build a live following.
In March of 2005, Grey, on his own dime, returned to Retrophonics yet again with producer Dan Prothero to begin recording Country Ghetto. The album took nearly two years to record due to the extensive touring being carried on by Mofro. Alligator Records released the extremely personal Country Ghetto in February of 2007 under the new billing of JJ Grey and Mofro. In an interview in 2007, Grey explained the addition of his own name to his project:
I was always shy about putting my own name on my music. I knew that other people went by their own names with their own music but for whatever goofy reason I was too nervous to do it. All of the songs have been about personal experiences at some level in my life some good and some bad. A couple of the songs are about someone very dear to me who thought I was too embarrassed to have my own name associated with the songs I wrote about them. In the end it made me realize that my music is too damn personal to have a name I made up (Mofro) as the inspiration behind it.
Country Ghetto has proven to be Grey’s most successful endeavor to date by quickly surpassing all other releases in record sales and radio airplay and continued critical acclaim. With another new band including a horn section, Grey and company set out on the road in support of Country Ghetto in February of 2007. With a rigorous road schedule, Grey (on vocals, guitar, piano and harmonica) and the current ensemble of Daryl Hance on guitar, Adam Scone on bass and Organ, Art Edmaiston on Saxophone, Dennis Marion on Trumpet and newly added Anthony Cole on drums continues to perform worldwide with a new album waiting to be released later in 2008.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Title | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Blackwater | Fog City Records |
| 2004 | Lochloosa | Fog City Records |
| 2007 | Country Ghetto | Alligator Records |
