JJ Grey & Mofro and Tedeschi Trucks Band

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.

The band started in 2010 when husband and wife Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks each put their solo bands on hiatus so that they could put more time into making music with each other, both during the recording process, as well as during touring. They were later joined by Maurice Brown, Kofi Burbridge, Tyler Greenwell, J.J Johnson, Mike Mattison, Mark Rivers, Saunders Sermons, Kebbi Williams and Oteil Burbridge. As Tedeschi Trucks band, they made their first live performance at the Savannah Music Festival in April 2010, followed by appearances at Crossroads Guitar Festival and Fuji Rock Festival (among many others).

Tedeschi Trucks Band released their first studio album entitled “Revelator” that was released on 7 June 2011. The album garnered a high praise from critics, including Rolling Stone, who gave it a four out of five rating. Additionally, the album went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Blues Album in 2012. Their second album, “Everybody’s Talkin’” was a live album consisting of performances of “Revelator,” as well as covers of other well known rock, R&B and gospel songs. Despite the success, Oteil Burbridge took leave from the band to pursue a family life, and was replaced by Tim Lefebvre. The band continued on making life performance appearances, and in 2013 they released their second studio album entitled “Made Up My Mind.”