State Bridge – JJ Grey and his band Mofro Tonight!
Down-home roots, rock and soul artist JJ Grey and his band Mofro are set to rock the house at State Bridge Friday. Grey is touring in support of his first-ever live DVD/CD two-disc set, “Brighter Days.”
- What: JJ Grey & Mofro
- Where: State Bridge Riverside Amphitheater, 127 Trough Road, Bond, CO
- When: Friday, July 13 at 9 p.m.
- Tickets: $25 ADV / $30 at the door
- Visit www.statebridge.com to make lodging reservations and purchase tickets.
Grey’s ability to tell his thought-provoking stories through original songs, informed by a mixture of old-school rhythm & blues and roots rock ‘n’ roll, has carried JJ Grey & Mofro from the backwoods of Florida to hundreds of concert stages across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan and Australia. Singing with a passion and fervor directly influenced by his classic soul heroes, Grey’s deeply personal songs are steeped in the rhythms of his native home outside of Jacksonville, Fla. Grey comes from a long tradition of southern storytellers and, in that spirit, he fills his songs with details that are at once vivid, personal and universal.
Born into a family with generations-old roots in rural Florida, Grey was raised with a combination of backwoods wisdom and old-school, blue-collar values. He heard music at barbecues and in local juke joints, all the while developing a deep love and respect for the land and its culture. Grey’s original songs are inspired by legendary musicians, including Southern rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd, soul greats Otis Redding and Toots Hibbert, country stars George Jones and Jerry Reed, as well as by Grand Ole Opry comedian Jerry Clower. Whether it is a narrative passed down to him from his grandmother or the tribulations of a childhood friend, Grey’s ear for detail rings through in true storyteller fashion.
After over a decade of hard touring and five studio albums Grey still spends eight months of the year on the road, bringing his music to his loyal, ever-growing, worldwide fan base, laying it all on the line with each and every performance. Grey has played countless festivals, including Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, Austin City Limits Festival, Byron Bay Blues Festival (Australia), Montreal Jazz Festival and Fuji Rock (Japan). Over the course of his career, Grey has shared stages with the likes of B.B. King, The Allman Brothers Band, The Black Crowes, Los Lobos, Jeff Beck, Ben Harper, Lenny Kravitz, Booker T. Jones, Mavis Staples and many others.
Grey’s songs have appeared in film and network and cable television programs including House, Flashpoint, Crash, Friday Night Lights, The Deadliest Catch and the film The Hoot. In November 2009, JJ wrote his first film score for the critically acclaimed, Emmy Award-winning documentary The Good Soldier that appeared in theaters and on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. In 2010, Grey played piano, sang and contributed a song (The Wrong Side) to Buckwheat Zydeco’s Grammy-winning album Lay Your Burden Down.
As old fans know well and new ones keep discovering, a JJ Grey & Mofro show is a musical celebration shared between Grey and his audience, with each driving the other to greater heights. With Brighter Days and an overflowing tour schedule, the bond between Grey and his fans grows deeper and JJ Grey’s future looks brighter with each passing day.
A collective of five musicians who each left prominent slots in various touring bands, the Stringdusters, are essentially a supergroup. The band’s members hold tenures alongside luminaries like Dolly Parton, Earl Scruggs, Levon Helm and the Emmitt-Nershi Band, to name a few. But the individuals felt a kindred spirit and formed simply to play Stringduster music.
They combine virtuosic chops on traditional bluegrass instruments with an ethos on pushing the genre forward. Having toured the country with their collective pasts, playing bluegrass festivals, folk clubs and acoustic listening rooms, the band is extremely well versed in the history of the music. They do not seek to shun bluegrass, but expand on the possibilities set forth by Flatt & Scruggs, John Hartford and Bill Monroe. It’s a musical style they’ve dubbed “High Country.”
“We play ‘High Country’ music,” said bass player Travis Book. “More than bluegrass, not quite country, always progressive and energetic, High Country is our genre, as much as it’s our mindset and the name of our new label.”
The High Country mindset also comes in to play beyond the music, as the bandmembers take any chance they can to explore the mountains they traverse on their annual ski tour and cast lines into rivers surrounding their festival appearances.
Spend any time with the Stringdusters and you’ll quickly see the collective pot boiling over with creativity. You have strong songwriters in each band member, plus guitarist Andy Falco, who can also be found shredding electric guitar in Joss Stone’s band, banjo player Chris Pandolfi, who was the first ever principle on the instrument at Berklee, and dobro extraordinaire Andy Hall, an IBMA award winner who is consistently named one of the top players on his instrument.
Not only does the music speak for itself, but the success the band is creating speaks volumes on their willingness to put in the hard work to create something unique and lasting.
Opening the show, Jon Stickley is an flat-picking guitarist from Asheville, NC. The Jon Stickley Trio showcases original material, as well as interpretations of bluegrass and jazz music. The trio leans toward a relaxed approach were the members are free to explore the song in the moment. Also opening the show are local favorites Olora Brothers, substituting Rob Eaton Jr. and John Huge on the dobro in place of Andrew Portwood.
~Geoff Mintz, State Bridge
Photo Credits: jjGrey.com, Melanie Martinez
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