allmusic Orange Blossoms Album Review

By: Hal Horowitz
It's difficult to find a review of JJ Grey's music that doesn't use the word "swamp" to describe his blend of deep Southern soul and murky funk. So that's taken care of in the first sentence here, which leaves plenty of room to focus on his fourth album's low-key yet surging backwoods R&B. The disc's title and title track refer to Grey's home state of Florida's official flower, but there is little that is floral or sunshiny about his music. Rather, the Jacksonville-based Grey prefers to hover in the gloaming, layering horns and backing vocals over grinding, midtempo blue-eyed soul. This is the most elaborately produced of his albums, but like the chitlin' circuit blues in his blood, there is nothing slick about it. Similar to the illicit affair at the heart of "Everything Good Is Bad," the disc's only cover (the original was done by the obscure act 100 Proof [Aged in Soul]), Grey's music generally stays in the shadows. The funeral piano that opens "She Don't Know" is jazzy yet ominous and sounds as humid and muggy as his hometown on an August night. Ditto for the strings that appear at the song's end and pop up like wild weeds throughout this dozen-song set. Grey has matured into a compelling vocalist and it is his emotional yet subtle singing that elevates this already powerful material. His sluggish Southern drawl on the funky "WYLF" (short for "what you're looking for") infuses a laconic, easygoing, almost lazy feel, a distinguishing characteristic of his style. That's brought into sharp relief on the sticky, sweaty sex of "Move It On," a sly, nearly seven-minute deliberate groover that sounds like something the Temptations might have recorded if they had been bred in the South. Although Grey deserves the bulk of the credit for this disc's unassuming success, longtime co-producer Dan Prothero (who has worked on every Grey/Mofro project) and in-the-pocket drummer Anthony Cole are crucial elements of the stealthy vibe. It's an album that grows on you slowly like moss at the base of a withered old tree and transports you to the dank, mosquito-infested bayou at the heart of Grey's evocative sound.

Country Ghetto Voted One Of The Best CDs of 2007 by WFUV

JJ Grey & MOFRO have been voted one of the 10 best CDs of 2007 by WFUV. They are in great company with Amy Winehouse, Spoon, Mavis Staples, Jose Gonzalez, Radiohead, Wilco, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams and Nick Lowe. If you haven't picked up your copy of Country Ghetto, it's in stores now and available by clicking the store link above.

Modern Guitars Magazine: Country Ghetto Review

Country Ghetto is the latest release from the swamp rock band previously known as MOFRO. Their first album on Alligator Records, as well as the first with JJ Grey fronting the band name, it’s even more of a fusion of styles than their previous two efforts. It seems any direction MOFRO takes is a good one. Their first record, 2003's Blackwater, was steeped in funk and boogie. Much of it was like a melding of the styles of Sly Stone, Jon Spencer, Dave Matthews, and Prince, with a flavor of deep southern swamp rock and blues, an extremely original style for sure. 2004's Lochloosa was more funk and boogie, and, as some like to call it, "front-porch soul", along with an indication that the band was becoming more focused, and maybe just a tad more serious about music in general.

Country Ghetto is a continuation of all that and more, and probably their best record to-date. It takes the listener back to the steamy swamplands northeast of Jacksonville, Florida, where JJ Grey grew up. Though the dark and melancholy swamp rock sound is prevalent still, add in an air of political awareness and tales of the bleak adversity that wetland living is, and combine that with country rock dynamics and flagrant soul and R&B flavors. That’s Country Ghetto. These are JJ Grey’s stories, sang with an incredibly high level of passion.

A huge fan of Otis Redding, Grey often pours himself out in that poignant and intense manner. The song "A Woman" is about as soulful as a white boy can get, and incredibly similar to the renowned soul singer’s potent wail. "The Sun Is Shining Down" continues down that soulful road, yet in more of a gospel direction. His Van Morrison influence also prevails in this one. The album’s opener, "War", is a funked up rocker dealing with an awareness of uncertainty and greed in the world, a scenario that haunts us all. In it, Grey sings: "No one gonna do what’s ‘right’. All we’ll do is fight. There’s a war goin’ on, and the one’s about to die are safe at home." It’s very reminiscent of Sly Stone in places. In "Circles", Grey utilizes a vintage sounding electric piano as the main instrument. His vocal is exceptional in this melancholy, bluesy ballad. In the title song, he sings of life in a "Country Ghetto", of poverty and genuine contentment. He lets the listener know that he wouldn’t change his upbringing for anything. The song's groove is both contagious and hypnotic. "Turpentine" is a boogie rocker done with grit and rock driven passion.

JJ Grey is a fine raconteur of tales of true grit, Southern hardship, and blatant realism. His music is a hodgepodge of styles, all leading to a point of gritty swampland funk and roll, done with incredible passion and pragmatism. Yet it’s peculiar, that even though Amazon.com had once assessed his first CD, Blackwater, as one of the best of the decade, many still haven’t heard of him or his band. The invisibility of good music, these days, is a blatantly clear injustice. Alligator has a tendency to detect artists who have great possibilities, yet haven’t had the opportunity to be properly exposed. Country Ghetto is an opus worth exposing. JJ Grey has the potential to be one of the greatest songwriters of the era.

Blender Magazine: Country Ghetto Review

For JJ Grey, who grows organic vegetables on his grandfather’s farm in northern Florida when not touring, the blues isn’t the sound of despair but a source of thoughtful regional pride. Over thick swamp-funk rich with organ and horns recalling the classic 1960s country-soul of Dan Penn, he sings of ordinary worries and hometown bona fides in a grainy, back-porch baritone. “Tragic” recounts a friend’s unraveling by painkillers, and “On Palastine” recounts old days when businessmen stole what land they could and burned the rest. Hardship is part of what binds him to the place, and in the hymnlike “The Sun Is Shining Down,” Grey counts, over nourishing rays of guitar, his most important blessings: “Glory, glory, hallelujah,” he gasps, “I’m alive and I’m feeling fine.”

No Depression Magazine: Country Ghetto Review

Jacksonville, Florida, is and always will be VanZant country, but there are other voices swimming around down near the swamps. On their third album, JJ Grey & Mofro, hooked up now with Chicago's Alligator label, sound more comfortable in their sound than ever, and Grey rasps and roars through a platter of tasty front-porch funk that's designed to make you feel the south, right down to the soupy humidity and the troublingly huge mosquitoes. Smartly, Grey focuses on his big, soulful voice, keeping he music spare and using bluesy horns and choral flourishes judiciously. He shoots for topics big and small: the encroachment of timber barons on his home country ("On Palastine"), pre-damaged relationships ("Circles"), and the tricky vibe associated with his birthplace (the title track, on which he sings, "I see the look in your eyes/I know I'm simple and plain"). All through Country Ghetto, Grey addresses his geography like the Drive-By Truckers, painting every track with proud southern-ness but nicely brushing aside -- or maybe failing to acknowledge, even -- the stereotypes such a label still brings with it down in Skynyrdland. --Jeff Vrabel

Relix: Country Ghetto Review

Country Ghetto is a tribute to JJ Grey’s rich comprehension of the South’s learned musical roots and knack to make age-old ideas sound fresh. Delicately threading in his voice and maintaining a groove-heavy, bluesy backbeat throughout, Country Ghetto does more than just dig at some old roots; it heads to the swamp for a jam session. Grey and MOFRO fuse rock with plenty of soul, backing vocals and a boisterous horn section, coloring Country Ghetto quite brightly, complementing the organ and slide guitar so prevalent here. But there is a far less predictable and more startling aspect to this album; take “Circles,” fueled with an idyllic string section and spacious atmosphere. And there is a more charged side as well; “By My Side” and “Turpentine” lend some raw heaviness and dirty, infectious funk to the mix. Grey’s deep and introspective lyrics are a breath of fresh air, unafraid to expose a bit of a darker and more somber side. While he does pay homage to his home early and often, Grey doesn’t just stick to one subject.War is on his mind from the album’s very start, as “War” and the folksy “On Palastine” exhibit. Mike Thomas

Harp Magazine: Country Ghetto review

Don't be fooled by his rural northern Florida background. Down-home roots, rock and soul-funk singer-songwriter JJ Grey is neither dumb white trash nor an ignorant redneck. In the grand tradition of Southern storytellers like his heroes Muddy Waters, Dr. John and Tony Joe White, Grey writes songs about everyday hardship, from drug addiction to horrid working conditions, often incorporating the loss of Mayberry-like innocence with the disintegration of his beloved small-town culture. Like his lyrics, his resonant, smoldering vocals are potent and authoritative, mature beyond his age. From smoldering Otis Redding-inspired country-soul ballads (A Woman and The Sun Is Shining Down) to tasty, chicken-fried funk (Country Ghetto) to full-bore blues-rock (War), Grey and his backing band MOFRO buzz like a swarm of sexually aroused hornets. They shake a collective tail feather of uproariously funky and melodic homespun tales that are gritty and deeply personal, confrontational and universal.

Billboard: Country Ghetto review

intriguing and fortuitous... Grey's a songwriter with a sharp wit and a knack for skewering the hypocrites, jive politicians and carpetbaggers who litter the landscape. The MOFRO vibe travels freely among swamp funk, blues, rock and soul, and does so with a certain down-and-dirty swagger that's as real as it is appealing.

Jambase: Life In A Country Ghetto

From Southern storytelling to flash-fried funk, there may be no better man in music today to tell the New South's story. Grey's soul shines through his pores, provoking the feel of a modern day Van Morrison who grew up hanging out with Howlin' Wolf.

New York Times - Country Ghetto review

JJ Grey is a singer-songwriter with talent and historical references. His music borrows from Stax/Volt and Mississippi hill-country blues, and he sings with feeling, in an unforced deep drawl, about the condition of poor whites in the South. But he's also got a band with an excellent groove, and that's what makes the difference on "Country Ghetto" (Alligator). His biggest weapon is the drummer George Sluppick, who puts a lot of funk into a medium tempo, and recalls the kings of heavy foot: musicians like John Bonham and Gregg Errico from Sly and the Family Stone, who drove their bass-drum beats into your spine. These songs don't have to be half as accomplished as they are. It would be a pleasure to hear this band play covers all night.

Folio Weekly: Redneck Prophet

Not everyone can be Grizzly Adams. I ain't sayin' that. I'm just sayin', keep some piece of it alive.

This Is Not TV - Lochloosa review

It's hard to even start writing about the band's sound without using terms like 'earnest' and 'authentic', words that I have used as the shitty stick with which to beat many a nu metal band, but in the case of MOFRO, for once they apply in the positive. I have built walls of cynicism and superiority around me over the years (revved up in the majority by rotten blues-rock) without really even noticing it and LOCHLOOSA has punctured them with the brilliance of its conviction.