Lochloosa
A masterpiece of Southern soul from JJ Grey & Mofro.
Hammock, Swamp, Ocean, Scrub. The four trees on the front of this album represent the four distinct areas where I grew up.
All four are on the land where I live; all four speak to me about who I am. The four abound at Lake Lochloosa. The higher scrub filled with pines on the way into the creek, the huge cypress that ring the lake, the hardwood hammocks at the creek, and the palm trees that intersperse the whole area and the rest of North Central Florida letting you know you're still near the sea.
They're part of my family. After being away on the road for weeks at a time, there is no way to describe the joy it brings me when I catch my first homeward glimpse of them. I look out at these giants and know that the world in some way still makes sense to me. They open the door to a world that I understand, a place where I can balance the bubble between the lines on my own level of life. They say, 'You are home.'
I've lived all my life beneath the watchful eye of these towering oaks, long leaf pine, cypress and cabbage palms. These red clay roads blistered out to sand by the intense Florida sun, these tea colored creeks warm and full of fish, these beautiful gardens full of whatever seasonal crop we've laid down. These old chicken farmers who helped raise me have given me so much more than a place to hang my hat. They've given me a home, they've given me roots and honestly that has as much or more to do with who I am musically as any of the songs I've listened to growing up.
The heartbreaking southern ballad or the festive juke house romp. The joy to watch the butterflies beautiful dance in the summer sun by day or the mysterious fireflies by night, and then the hole it leaves in your heart, the sorrow, when they're seemingly gone forever. The pain of walking this hard earth, and then the thrill of feeling your bare feet on the ground. The greatest inspiration of all.
These men and women who sing, whose voices move me, whose songs tell me the stories of living, loving, hating, hurting, healing and dying. Lord I hope I do them proud.
— JJ Grey
Y’all Ready
That Boy
Lochloosa
Dirtfloorcracker
Fireflies
Ten Thousand Islands
Six Ways From Sunday
The Wrong Side
Everybody’s
Gal Youngin
How Junior Got His Head Put Out
The Long Way Home
Produced and recorded by Dan Prothero
Lochloosa was recorded by Dan Prothero at Retrophonics Studios in St. Augustine Beach, Florida.
Personnel: JJ Grey (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Daryl Hance (guitar, dobro), Fabrice Quentin (bass), Craig Barnette (drums), Mike Shapiro (keyboards), George Sluppick (drums, percussion, backing, vocals) with special guests Robert Walter (clavinet, electric piano) and Papa Mali (electric and acoustic guitar)
“probably the best recording put out by any Florida band since Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Damn the Torpedoes way back in 1979”
“One of the 10 Best Releases Of The Year: nothing less than a perfect groove. Down home, dirty soul.”
“unmistakably Southern, undeniably soulful”
Further Listening
Fog City Records FCCD010 - UPC 606946101025
JJ Grey & Mofro On Tour
