Making Music Is Like Chasing A Rabbit

The way the North Port, Florida-based singer-songwriter John “JJ” Grey tells it…

He was at his grandmother’s funeral and his aunt and uncle were singing I’ll Fly Away when another relative “hollered out Ol’ Glory”. That became the title to the seventh album from JJ Grey & Mofro, but more importantly, it gives something of an idea of just how the sound of the band, a mix of Southern rock, soul, gospel, blues and funk evolved – it’s very much a reflection of the landscape of Jacksonville, up by the Georgia border, in which Grey grew up.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, everything here musically has always been, as I grew up, call/response,” Grey explains. “It was that way in church when we were little kids. It’s holler and holler back, man. And my favourite music does that. Even country music here, ol’ country music – if the singer stops singin’, then somebody else steps up and says somethin’, whether they’re sayin’ it vocally or on a piano or a pedal steel guitar or whatever. They’re listenin’ to the singer and they’re listenin’ to each other and they’re always responding to that. Instead of playin’ parts – instead of like, okay, this is C somethin’ somethin’ chord and then we go to the D somethin’ chord and we go to E, they just listen and play.”

And so it is with Ol’ Glory, the album – catching something of that spirit that happens live on stage when JJ Grey & Mofro play, responding to each other’s playing. Grey also wanted to get himself back into that place.

“I’ve been steadily workin’ my way that way with every record, and I felt like this album, I wanted to give myself a little more time with the material so when I actually sang it that it felt a little more lived. Actually what it comes from – you do a record, you go on the road for a year, and a year later you listen to the record and you’re like, ‘Shit, I wish we could re-record it all right now,’ ‘cause a year later you really settle into this thing. So I really tried to spend more time singin’ the stuff at home to try to settle in a lot more and I’m glad I did.

“With all the records, man, they write themselves and I’m just kind of along for the ride. It’s sorta like I’m on a sailboat and I just kinda man the rudder, ya know what I mean? And let the wind and the current carry me. I just kinda steer it every now and again. When I say these songs write themselves, it’s kinda like a conversation, but a conversation with yourself, and the only time when I come into play is if I feel that the stuff that pops into my head I can do a little bit better. I start with the music and let the words come later, most of the time. I call it chasin’ the rabbit – you gotta be in the woods to sorta catch one.”