JJ Grey is the voice all rural Southerners don’t know that they really need. On his third album with his band Mofro, Grey doesn’t really change the musical formula-rocking hill country licks and front porch stomps sit behind his soulful growl. And although he’s still telling his Grandfather’s tales of the old South, he seems to be a little angrier with the world. The native of the North Florida sticks delivers blatant lines like, “Say what you will about your helping hand, I know I’ll never be more than your dumb white trash,” on the title track. Grey will never call himself a protest singer, but “War” is a grapple with inner demons through a scope of our present military tie-down, while “Mississippi” is plain and simple sticking up for a place that gets no respect. With warriors like Grey, the South will eventually rise again in the right way. -J.F.


Track 1 - War