indy cd & vinyl

J.J. GREY & MOFRO - “COUNTRY GHETTO”

Country Ghetto is the first album for J.J. Grey & Mofro (formerly just Mofro) on Alligator Records, home to southern blues artists too numerous to list. It is a very appropriate home for the mixture of swamp-rock and southern soul served up here. J.J. Grey is no stranger to this territory, having grown up in the swamplands of northern Florida. He says this album is full of “front porch realism”. It is also full of rough funk, juke-joint romps, gospel blues, and what the band calls ‘swamp rock for a new age”. One might also call their sound a “modern Muscle Shoals,” referring to the studio that spawned some of the best work of the Allmans, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a host of Stax-influencd artists of the seventies. With a fine bluesy voice and just the right amount of grit, Grey sings songs about everyday hardships, whether centered on political, racial, or romantic travails. Kicking things off with a chunky guitar riff and a simple drum beat, “War” tackles its subject with music smothered in funky organ and horn lines, and with some great female gospel vocals as backing. “Circles” slows things down with bluesy string and horn stylings. The title track s a Booker-T style funky blues driven by Grey’s wailing harmonica, in which he lays down lyrics exploring life as he knows it versus how that life is portrayed. As he spits out, “Love touches us all/Yes we’re black and we’re white/Out here in the cut/Still living side by side/So never mind what you seen/And just forget what you heard/Another ignorant redneck/Just some Hollywood words,” you can feel the venom and sarcasm dripping from his lips. Unlike so many modern vocalists, Grey’s words carry little trace of irony. You can tell the words are felt rather than just sung. The album continues in this vein, alternately serving up horn-driven anthems, laid-back country blues, or soulful gospel singalongs (made explicit in the penultimate track “The Sun Is Shining Down,” with its chorus of “Glory, Glory, Hallelujah”). Whatever the approach, the band comes up aces, and this is one of the finest blues-infused releases you’re likely to hear this year. .

NOTE: J.J. Grey and Mofro will be appearing live at the Vogue Theatre on Tuesday, April 14^th. Prior to their show, they will also be performing a free, all ages acoustic set at 5 PM at Indy CD and Vinyl.