On Tuesday, February 20, renowned singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist JJ Grey, leader of JJ Grey & Mofro, announced UK and Netherlands dates on the band's "Olustee World Tour." JJ Grey & Mofro will perform June 12, 13 and 14 in the Netherlands, and June 15, 17 and 18 in the United Kingdom. Grey couldn't be more excited about these dates "It’s been almost a decade since we've played there y’all! We can’t wait to finally get back to the land of a million accents and the only place on earth to have a real cuppa and a proper fry-up! UK massive!" The new album, Olustee (with cover art by Grey), is set for February 23rd release on Alligator Records. This is Grey's first album in nine years, and the first he has self-produced. Popular UK national broadcaster Jazz FM has declared Olustee their "Album Of The Week" starting February 19.
| “Impassioned Southern rock, cold blooded swamp funk and sly Memphis soul celebrate life’s most fundamental joys…Grey is a singer-songwriter with unforced talent and deep feeling.” --The New York Times “A deeply-rooted blend of southern-fried rock and swamp funk…richly evocative.” --NPR "Abundantly talented singer, guitarist, harmonica man, gritty-voiced JJ Grey delivers tuneful originals, funky good times, sinuous ballads, gospel and Southern rock spiced with moments of pure jazz …a pleasure." --MOJO |
On Olustee, the North Florida-born and bred artist 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, often 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 swampland, Grey’s gritty baritone drips with honest passion and testifies with a preacher’s foot-pounding fervor.
Grey has released three singles from the album: "The Sea," “Rooster," and most recently, "Wonderland." AllMusic says JJ Grey’s music is “as authentic as the ground under your feet, because that’s where it comes from -- just before it moves, simply and directly, through the body of the listener, into the human heart.”
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.
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