JJ GREY: LIFE IN A COUNTRY GHETTO

By Chris Clark

JJ Grey & MOFRO

For the better part of 20 years, JJ Grey has been delivering gloriously gritty, heartfelt music to the world. From Southern storytelling to flash-fried funk, there may be no better man in music today to tell the New South’s story, a tale filled with cultural decline, environmental marginalization, and the loss of pride for one’s home.

“I am who I am,” begins a cordial Grey. “I’m a product of where I’m from. I just try not to forget, that’s all. Today, it’s so full of bullshit. TV and Hollywood, they depict the South in one way. It’s not Wal-Marts and Starbucks on every corner. It’s not so orderly. It’s some sort of crazy balance in modern man’s mind of order versus choice.”

Grey’s personality is full of Southern charisma. His voice has a full but calming quality. His musical message is thought-provoking yet remains chilling to the conscience. He represents the evolution of a great storyteller. On the phone, his delectable, invite-you-into-his-living-room tone warms your mind and soothes your heart. In person, Grey’s soul shines through his pores, provoking the feel of a modern day Van Morrison who grew up hanging out with Howlin’ Wolf.

The Road To The Ghetto
After years of performing music without an album, Grey traveled to England in search of a record deal. En route to the making of the band’s first album, Grey and MOFRO co-founder Daryl Hance would face major label blunders in London while shopping around material but it was overseas that almost 15 years of playing and performing would finally pay off. This came in the form of Fog City Records and producer Dan Prothero, a man credited in the development of MOFRO and the eventual recognition and future success of Grey as a songwriter.

Before Prothero, Grey was primarily recognized through MOFRO’s dynamic live shows. Grey has the ability to capture a crowd night after night. It’s a quality he attributes to his early years at after-church gospel party throw-downs in muggy Northern Florida. “I was able to sing when I was a kid. I was lucky,” says Grey. “Little by little, I just kept plugging away. If what you do is irrelevant, than that’s just the way it is. Do what you do.”

In 2001, the Northern Florida swamplands came to life on MOFRO’s debut, Blackwater, which immediately put the group on the map. It’s cohesive, dirty South funk filled with all the collared greens, grits and homemade lemonade you can take. Sonically pleasing as well as thought-provoking, Blackwater truly showcased Grey’s lyrical prowess. The harmonica-fueled, Southern-swamp stomp quickly was reminiscent of great storytellers like Muddy Waters and Otis Redding. His skills only grew stronger on their second album, Lochloosa, released on Swampland Records in 2004.

JJ Grey & MOFRO

Since then Grey and Hance have toured constantly with a continually rotating cast of players, building up their repertoire and reputation. MOFRO’s brand new release, Country Ghetto (released 2/20 on Alligator Records), could be the album to stake Grey’s claim as one of the premiere Southern storytellers of our time.

“When I write songs, I listen to how they rub against each other,” says Grey. “Lyrically, much of this record has got a little more angst. It’s a little more aggressive in its approach. It’s more contemplative than the other stuff.”

He speaks candidly of how special it felt to have his Aunt and Uncle make guest appearances on “The Sun is Shining Down,” saying, “To have them on that was awesome.” Highlights abound on Country Ghetto, which is Grey’s most poetic, musically diverse, hard hitting set to date. It’s also the first time Grey has put his own name in front of MOFRO.

JJ Grey

“MOFRO is a name brand, so to speak,” explains Grey. “These are the stories of my family and stories of my life. It’s like writing a diary of your life and not putting your name on it. It’s too goddamn personal to not have your name on it.”

Country Ghetto is darker, more serious than Blackwater and Lochloosa, a collection of 12 deeply personal and incredibly introspective tales. Commencing the album, “War” delivers a contemplative battle on what happens inside the mind’s narrative. “On Palestine” tackles that old-meets-new Florida, where the perils of timber companies came to Lake Palestine and virtually wiped out the lush forest. “Mississippi” is a more lighthearted take on a place so often criticized and put down. But nothing on Country Ghetto hits the soul as intensely as the title track, which closes with the words:

No I’m not tame / The only voice that speaks for me speaks from this clay / Little boy you ain’t never take a dime from the man / Starve to death before you live by a government handout / They call us poverty / Life in a country ghetto.

About the album title Country Ghetto, and song of the same name, Grey says, “I’d say it means what that snake [on the album’s cover] stands for. It’s how I see the people I grew up around. It says, ‘Don’t tread on me’.”

MOFRO is a name brand, so to speak. These are the stories of my family and stories of my life. It’s like writing a diary of your life and not putting your name on it. It’s too goddamn personal to not have your name on it. -JJ Grey on the addition of his name before the MOFRO moniker

Hance & Grey – MOFRO

Southern Man

Hance & Grey

JJ Grey shines as an intelligent, well-mannered Southern gentleman but he speaks so eloquently, so candidly he offers much more than that stereotypical good ol’ boy. When he speaks, you feel it. You feel Grey’s personality and vigor for what he says. His words are decisive and heartfelt, something Grey attributes to such noteworthy wordsmiths as Dan Penn and John Lee Hooker. “I like writers that don’t get in their own way,” observes Grey. “Some people can say so much with so little. I’ve always been a fan. I just say it straight to the point.”

Grey knows how to tell a story. His simple, precise words cut like a knife, evoking life in every line. The band’s swampy-textured, tall grass grooves lay the foundation for Grey’s sharp tales of a Southern boy growing up in a proud, family-focused culture during a time of drastic change. You can hear Grey’s deep disdain for what’s become of the common perception of a Southerner. Often negatively portrayed in the mainstream media, he speaks out about what it is to be a true man on of the South.

“I think a lot of it’s a joke,” Grey says. “I see it everywhere now. Everyone’s proud to be Southern. Hold up your beer and yell. If you’re from the South and grew up around Southern people, than you’re Southern.”

Sunshine State

JJ Grey

A few decades ago, Northern Florida was a land thick with centuries of storied history. Some refer to it as the Deep South, some call it redneck, but folks there lived a life free from the frivolous, fast-paced nonsense of the Northeast and Midwest. Highways, strip malls, excessive pollution, and rising crime rates had yet to arrive. Life remained simple, the old ways still ringing true. During this time Grey’s life was not unlike many of his neighbors. They lived off the land, their families raising their own livestock, working with what they had. Hogs were precious family friends, and killing one proved to be quite the challenge for Grey.

“I love hogs. We’d butcher chickens, and one time a year we’d butcher a cow. Butchering a hog, it destroyed my whole world. It truly bothers you,” says Grey. “My grandparents wouldn’t let go of the older way of living. It brings some sort of balance. When I was a kid, my grandparents would come home with two sacks of groceries. That was all they had. That was a month’s worth.”

It was this time spent going to Lake Lochloosa and Lake Orange with his grandfather and Hance that laid the foundations for the musician he would become. It’s these stories of family life, Florida culture, and how quickly life changes that have become the background for his lyrical tales.

“It ain’t like I’m Grisly Adams growing up in the woods,” says Grey. “We were land rich, but culture poor. It doesn’t make me any more realistic than anyone else. There is a certain amount of reckless abandon that we’re all really guilty of living. We all sort of pay somebody else to do our dirty work.”

Letting Go
Grey and his band MOFRO are true purveyors of quality American music. Their songs pay tribute to Delta blues, New Orleans funk and good ol’ rock n’ roll. Grey continues to be the model of a modern Southern musical poet. While not a mainstream superstar, he has artistically carved his own niche both for his words and music, and at the end of the day that’s what truly matters to him.

“People have fun when they let go,” says Grey. “When you forget about clocks and watches and lose sense of time and space; those moments, those times when everybody is able to let go – the band, the audience, everything – something magical happens.”

Check out MOFRO doing “Fireflies” on YouTube:

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