Alabama Shakes

The band’s style can be described as a mixture of genres, from roots rock, Southern rock and garage rock to soul, Americana and blues rock. The group currently consists of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, keyboard player Ben Tanner and drummer Steve Johnson. Howard and Cockrell formed the band while still in high school together, find a calling playing roots rock. Early influences for the band include Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Otis Redding and AC/DC.

Alabama Shakes big breakthrough came when they released the four-song, self-entitled EP ‘Alabama Shakes’ in September 2011. This gained them media attention and earned them an invitation to play at the CMJ Music Marathon industry showcase in New York, a performance which was heavily praised by the press.

In November 2011, the band rose from relative obscurity to international stardom. The band was signed by Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom and ATO Records in the United States. Their debut album, ‘Boys & Girls’ was released in April 2012 and was an instant success: it achieved gold record status for sales of over half a million in the USA. The band has received several Grammy nominations for their work: the categories they were nominated for include Best New Artist, Best Rock Performance for their single ‘Hold On’, and Best Recording Package for ‘Boys & Girls’.

JJ Grey and Mofro might just be the most awesome thing to ever come from an air conditioning company in history. The seeds of the band were sewn when guitarist Daryl Hance struck up a friendship with singer and songwriter John “JJ” Grey as they both worked for an air conditioning company in their shared home town of Jacksonville, Florida. They became close duo to their shared passion for music and decided to form a band together in the early 90’s. They decided on the name Mofro Magic for themselves and spend a good couple of years building up a loyal following all over the southern states of the USA.

Strangely enough for a band so typically American in both style and sound, the band were first offered a record deal in the United Kingdom in 1994. Unfortunately, the deal fell through after some initial recording sessions and with a revamped line-up of mostly English musicians, they shortened their name to Mofro and returned to Jacksonville. They had more luck in their home town and were signed to Fog City Records by 2001, releasing their debut album “Blackwater” in the same year. Unfortunately, what little run of luck they had run out later that year as a car crash involving several members of the band stalled things for a long time.

However, nothing was going to keep this band down for long, and in 2004, they released their second album as Mofro “Lochloosa”. In 2007, they signed a new record deal and changed their name again from Mofro to JJ Grey And Mofro, and ever since then they’ve become one of the most popular new jam bands around. Their live show is utterly unmissable, and JJ Grey remains one of the great unsung heroes of rock and roll songwriting. They’re a band that has the seal of approval of both Toots and the Maytals and The Allman Brothers Band, and if that doesn’t convince you that they’re the real deal, nothing will. Highly recommended.