Country Ghetto

JJ Grey & Mofro are creators of a singular musical mix they like to call "Front Porch Soul" and come to Alligator Records with exciting career momentum and vast potential. JJ Grey is a gifted singer/songwriter whose distinctly Southern lyrics play out over Mofro's dazzling display of fire-breathing R&B, swampy blues, arching soul and funky, Dixie-fried rock. JJ Grey & Mofro are now releasing their newest album, COUNTRY GHETTO.

Within the soul-drenched music of northern Florida's JJ Grey and band, the roots run as deep as the influences are indelible. "War" and "By My Side" sound like Southern-fried Sly and the Family Stone. "Turpentine" recalls the swamp funk of Tony Joe White. Both "A Woman" and "The Sun Is Shining Down" suggest long-lost Otis Redding sessions in Muscle Shoals, while "Mississippi" takes Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" on a trip down to the delta. From the harmonica-laced country blues of the title track to the gospel piano and choir of "On Palestine," Grey's music compensates with conviction for what it lacks in originality. --Don McLeese