ALBUM REVIEW: ‘Olustee’ Is JJ Grey & Mofro’s Latest Postcard From the Florida Swampland
Grant Britt
Posted On February 21, 2024
JJ Grey is a shape-shifter, a marauding swamp thing big-footin’ it through his ancestral Florida homeland, splashing muddy funk in all directions. Trying to nail those big feet down is like wrasslin’ gators: He’s pretty much gonna do what he wants, so just grab hold and hang on for the ride.
JJ Grey (photo by Steve Rapport)
The Jacksonville, Florida, native has been stirring up a big bog of funk, soul, rock, and blues since his 2001 debut, Blackwater. Signing with Alligator for 2007’s Country Ghetto unveiled a rather unusual direction for the bluesy label, with the title cut sounding like Dr. John goes rural after hanging out with Hank Jr. But Grey’s horizons were wider than that, as he demonstrated on “The Sweetest Thing” from 2010’s Georgia Warhorse, with Toots Hibbert, ska godfather paired with snaggle-toothed soulman for a reggae-flavored bluesy sway fest.
So it’s no surprise that Grey’s latest, Olustee, is also a mixed bag, a shaman’s sack of gris-gris and mojo fixin’s for serious conjuring.
“Sittin’ on Top of the World” sounds like Jon Cleary and Delbert McClinton fronting a Southern rock band of soulful swampers second-line stomping through puddles of swamp juice. “On a Breeze” could be a Van Morrison creation written for an orchestra with a soul man out front helping it glide along.
Grey reveals his skills as a chicken whisperer on “Rooster,” taking lessons from the fowl leader and applying his cockiness to his human ways.
On the title cut, Grey captures the frenzied flight of terrified Floridian forest denizens, critters and humans alike trying to escape an out-of-control wildfire, his harp howling a warning before his shrieking guitar relentlessly pursues them. An avid environmentalist, Grey shines a light on his ongoing crusade to restore and preserve Florida wetlands, covering John Anderson’s “Seminole Wind,” where progress came and took its toll in the Everglades, and the ghost of the Seminole leader Oceola cries to see the desecration.
It’s always an interesting ridealong with Grey. No telling where the journey might lead or what you’ll encounter along the way, but it’s one you’ll want to repeat on a regular basis.
JJ Grey and Mofro’s Olustee is out Feb. 23 on Alligator Records.
