Self-proclaimed “swamp cracka”, JJ Grey is the singer and front man for the Jacksonville FL outfit Mofro. With no “hits”, Mofro follows the Wilco acumen of relentless touring and sticking to the script. In this case, the script is southern fried rock with a side of Memphis soul and lyrics steeped in environmental stewardship. I first jumped on the bandwagon in the early 2000s after viewing a memorable belting of Galactic-backed, rainstorm fueled Sympathy For The Devil. On this evening, Grey said his visits to New Haven started in the late 80s with stops at Toads and the ill-fated Moon ( on Whalley Ave). They’ve come a long way baby as evidenced by two new monster beautifully painted tourbuses. Decent crowd for a Thursday to get a couple hours of Mofro. The current band is Grey on harmonica, guitar, organ and vocals with bass, drums, percussion, lead guitar, organ, trumpet, sax/flute, and two female backing singers to round out the 10 piece. An affable front man with a confident stage presence, Grey inhabits soulful ballads and choogling rockers and seems genuinely glad to call and response with the ladies. Mofro has released a steady stream of music that has produced multiple singalongable chestnuts over the years. New songs from the recent Olustee record were peppered in. Solid renditions of Orange Blossoms, Lochloosa, On Fire, A Woman were right at home with new songs Top of The World , The Sea, and the cover tune Seminole Wind. Mofro was embraced by the jam crowd for his laid back approach and pro environment tunes and has forged a successful career spinning tales of cherishing the natural world.
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