With “Everything is a Song,” JJ Grey and Mofro have created an album-opening statement that sounds as if it’s always been here, like something you’ve heard before but can’t quite place. In other words, it may be the perfect way to begin the forthcoming Ol’ Glory.
Sunshine leaks out of every corner of this charmingly uncomplicated song, which grew out of the wordless joy of a child’s first melody. (There’s a moment, in fact, when JJ Grey simply repeats “the joy, the joy, the joy.”) Nobody makes songs like that anymore, songs without irony, without a wink or a nudge, without anger or politics or a sense of morose defeatism. Maybe it’s not cool, but it sure feels good.
As such, it would fit nicely in a playlist between Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World” and the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There,” though without the comfy familiarity. These are new thoughts, presented in the old way — high praise, I’m sure, for old souls like JJ Grey and Mofro.
Grey’s deceptively simple narrative is bolstered by Mofro — featuring drummer, Anthony Cole, guitarist Andrew Trube, keyboardist Anthony Farrell, bassist Todd Smallie, trumpeter Dennis Marion and saxist Jeff Dazey — doing what Mofro does: Lay down a lip-smacking groove, punctuated with warm splashes of horns. Coupled with JJ Grey’s infectious sense of jubilation, they lift “Everything is a Song” into an almost-gospel kind of exultation.
And they get Ol’ Glory, due February 24, 2015 as JJ Grey and Mofro’s debut for Provogue Records, off to a spirited, and very warm-hearted start.
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