JJ GREY & MOFRO UK & IE DATES the album “A potent portion, an elixir, ‘Olustee’ is an album of heartfelt hymns and soulful expositions to life’s purest pleasures” includes
From his earliest days playing cover versions behind chicken wire at a west side Jacksonville juke joint while still working at a lumberyard, to playing sold-out shows at some of the largest venues and music festivals in the world, JJ Grey has always delivered soul-honest truths. Ever since the release of his 2001 debut album, ‘Blackwater’ (issued as Mofro, a moniker the young Grey chose to describe his music while working at a timber yard), he has been widely praised for his deeply moving, masterfully written, funkified rock and front porch Southern soul music. With 2024’s ‘Olustee’, his tenth album but first for nine years (and the first he has totally self-produced), Grey shows that he is well and truly back, singing his personal stories with universal themes of redemption, rebirth and inner peace. He also celebrates good times with friends, often mixing the carnal with the cerebral in the very same song. Fuelled by his vividly detailed, timeless original songs spun from life experience, his gritty baritone drips with honest passion and testifies with a preacher’s foot-pounding fervour. ‘Olustee’ once again sees Grey push the boundaries of his own creative musical, lyrical and vocal talents to deliver an instant classic. Many of the songs are steeped in the mythical Southern stories of his ancestral Florida home and filled with people from his life. The songs are told through the eyes of a poet and sung with pure, unvarnished soul, while his message is simple and strong – respect the natural world and always try to live in the moment. Oh, and never forget the importance of having a good time! August 2025 sees JJ Grey & Mofro (these days used as the name for Grey’s band of world-class musicians) hit the road for a fresh run of UK and European shows to promote ‘Olustee’ prior to another US tour.
JJ Grey & Mofro have performed at countless festivals all over the world, including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Montreal Jazz Festival (Canada), Byron Bay Blues Festival (Australia) and Fuji Rock (Japan), annually playing dozens of shows globally. Grey’s songs have appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, while in 2009 he wrote his first film score for the critically-acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning documentary ‘The Good Soldier’. Grey is a skilled visual artist, keen surfer, avid outdoorsman and dedicated fisherman (he holds an honorary position on the board of the Angler Action Foundation), dedicated to the protection of coastal fish and fish habitat. He has written passionately and articulately about his love for the untrammelled environment of his North Florida home and continues to advocate for its preservation.
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