JJ Grey & Mofro Detail 1st New Album In 9 Years, ‘Olustee,’ & Share Single

Swamp rockers JJ Grey & Mofro announced a new album entitled Olustee featuring the lead single/track “The Sea.” JJ Grey & Mofro will hit the road for an extensive tour in support of their first album since 2015’s Ol’ Glory which includes dozens of stops spanning March 6 and May 4, 2024 with special guests Judith Hill and Cedric Burnside on select dates.

Acclaimed singer/songwriter JJ Grey and his band will issue Olustee on February 23 via Alligator Records. The 11-track collection is Grey’s first self-produced album and marks the outfit’s return to Alligator which previously released five JJ Grey & Mofro records between 2007 and 2013.

“I’m thrilled to welcome JJ Grey back to Alligator Records,” stated Alligator Records founder and president Bruce Iglauer in a press release. “He is one of the most creative and visionary roots artists, and Olustee is the best album of his career (so far!). He’s a major artist who should be heard by everyone who is moved by deeply rooted American music. It’s a profound and joyous record.”

Press materials described the forthcoming LP:

On Olustee (Grey’s first self-produced album), the North Florida-born and bred Grey sings his personal stories with universal themes of redemption, rebirth, hard luck, and inner peace. With his music, Grey also celebrates good times with lifelong friends, oftentimes mixing the carnal with the cerebral in the very same song. Fueled by his vividly detailed, timeless originals spun from his own life and experiences in the Northern Florida swampland, Grey’s gritty baritone drips with honest passion and testifies with a preacher’s foot-pounding fervor.

With Olustee, JJ Grey has once again pushed the boundaries of his own creative musical, lyrical and vocal talents, delivering an album that is destined to become a classic. Many of the songs are steeped in the mythical Southern stories of his ancestral Florida home and filled with people from JJ’s life. The songs overflow with the sights and sounds of the region as told through the eyes of a poet and sung with pure, unvarnished soul. The album’s eleven songs range from the raucous, celebratory first radio single, Wonderland, to an escape from an out-of-control wildfire in the title track, to the inward-looking closer, Deeper Than Belief. Singing of his own personal triumphs and struggles, his hopes and desires, his friends and family, Grey’s message is simple and strong — respect the natural world and always try to live in the moment. And never forget the importance of having a good time.

JJ Grey & Mofro get the Olustee Tour underway in Augusta, Georgia on March 6. Grey will then bring his band to Nashville, Atlanta, Charleston, Durham (North Carolina), Little Rock, Rogers (Arkansas), Omaha, Des Moines, St. Paul, Milwaukee, Chicago, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Kalamazoo (Michigan), Columbus, Cleveland and Port Chester (New York) over the remainder of March. April dates include stops in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, Tennessee and Alabama. The tour ends with May shows in Macon, Georgia; Miramar Beach, Florida and Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

Those who pre-order Olustee on vinyl or CD from Grey’s online store before Sunday at 11:59 p.m. ET will receive a code to participate in a presale on Monday, November 5. Tickets then go on sale to the general public next Friday, November 10 at 10 a.m. local time. Find links, a full list of dates and “The Sea” single below:

Out today from JJ Grey & Mofro is “The Sea,” the opening track from Olustee. “Some of the quietest and most beautiful moments of my life were in and at the sea,” Grey wrote of the LP’s lead single. “Boat lights twinkling on the horizon or ducking down into the warmth of the water to knock the chill off of the late October wind. For me, the sea has always had a calming effect on my otherwise overactive mind. Once in the water, surfing or even fishing, all nail-biting would stop. All negative mental feedback loops evaporated. Blurring the line between the physical sea in front of me and the infinite sea all around me.”

Stream JJ Grey & Mofro’s official lyric video for “The Sea” below:

Olustee Tracklist

1. The Sea
2. Top Of The World
3. On A Breeze
4. Olustee
5. Seminole Wind
6. Wonderland
7. Starry Night
8. Free High
9. Waiting
10. Rooster
11. Deeper Than Belief