Changing of the Tide

Comment: I'm gonna try to keep my words to a minimum, and keep this about the music, so if I wander, lemme know.

"This is gonna be a huge year for them." Matt said.
"No shit it is." I replied.

And thats pretty much been the conversation I've had with anyone this year whenever MOFRO comes up. JJGrey and MOFRO are firing on all cylinders. By first signing with Alligator Records and now with the addition of The Hercules Horns, this soul extravaganza is perched high in their new tour bus, stone cold chillin', bringin' there sound on a world tour. The year started out in Ft. Lauderdale, FL at the Culture Room, where MOFRO played a one night stand after scorchin' three sold out nights in Jacksonville Beach, FL, to close out 2006. The energy was high in South FL, and after a 2.5 hour show and 3 encores, most there knew we were gonna witness one hell of a year for this band.

Not less that a month later, JJGrey and MOFRO embarked on a FL hitting Gainesville, Orlando, Tallahassee, and two incredible nights at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa. With new album, "Country Ghetto", they cruised up the east coast ending with two shows at Harper's Ferry outside Boston.

So with much anticipation they made it back to South FL for the 5th annual Langerado festival. As the only band representin' all five years, and as the local favorite, more than an hour at the festival would have been great. Yet in the alloted hour, they delivered one of the most inspired sets of music to move me in a long while. And that was fresh off the heels of a near dawn ending set upon which the likes of Sharon Jones, Ivan Neville, Ben Ellman, Matt Grondig, Stanton Moore, Luther Dickinson, and Eric Krasno all shared the stage for a soul/jam down unlike any most there have ever seen. We we're tired and amped up all at he same time.

Thank you MOFRO for a wonderful weekend, again.

photos by UHollis