News

ALLIGATOR RECORDS PREPARES LABEL DEBUT FROM
JJ GREY & MOFRO

"A glorious, soul-drenched delight...down-home blues and Dixie rock, unmistakably Southern, undeniably soulful.      -Billboard

Alligator Records has set a February 20, 2007 street date for down-home roots, rock and soul artist JJ Grey & his band MOFRO's new CD (and Alligator debut) COUNTRY GHETTO. Produced by Dan Prothero, COUNTRY GHETTO features 12 original JJ Grey compositions that come right out of the Southern musical and literary tradition. While his songwriting inspirations range from Bill Withers, Van Morrison, and Dan Penn, Grey's songs are always his own. JJ Grey and his band MOFRO exude rocking, funky, melodic, front porch realism in every song they play.
                                               
JJ Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern storytellers, and his songs oftentimes use the loss of his natural surroundings and the marginalization of the Southern culture he grew up in as a metaphor for universal truths. The band delivers his material with brilliant musicianship, resulting in music that is thought provoking, rhythmically dynamic and texturally mesmerizing.
 
Grey's ear for detail inhabits his songs, whether it is a story passed down to him from his grandmother or the tribulations of a childhood friend. His voice delivers them with an unflinching strength that makes the personal universal and paints a vivid portrait of an exact time or place with words and music. Like his songs, his rich, soulful vocals are forceful and commanding, seemingly old beyond his years. And the music, from smoldering soul ballads to gospel-fried funk to straight ahead rock 'n' roll, brings it all home with danceable grooves and a melodic freshness that will stay with you long after the album ends.
 
Grey's songwriting influences are widespread. "I listen to people who tell the story," he says, naming Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, R.L. Burnside, Tony Joe White, Jerry Reed, Otis Redding, Dr. John, Sly & The Family Stone, Van Morrison, Bill Withers and Dan Penn. What these writers and performers have in common is a love for simplicity, evoking complex emotions with a minimal number of words. 

As a performer, Grey is influenced by the sexually charged blues of Howlin' Wolf, the country soul of George Jones and the hard funk of James Brown, as well as local personalities like street preachers and old time radio DJs. From the beginning, Grey's songs have been connected to his ancestral Florida homestead 40 miles outside of Jacksonville, a landscape he writes about with passion and devotion. 

Back in 1986, Grey worked at an air conditioning company, where he befriended guitarist Daryl Hance. At the time Grey had a young, original band that needed a guitar player, so he gave Hance the call. Grey was immediately impressed with Daryl's minimalist approach. "Daryl plays like Curtis Mayfield or Peter Tosh. He plays like the older generation, with patience." Under the name of MOFRO (Grey's nod towards a lumberyard he worked at), they recorded a demo together, which drew the interest of a UK label. The two then flew to London in 1994 to record.
 
While in London, the deal collapsed. Deciding to stick it out for a while, Grey placed ads in Melody Maker for musicians and quickly put together a band to play in the local London music scene. They were courted by a number of record labels, but were not at all impressed by the seemingly false and unrealistic promises being offered. On his own, Grey researched and found Fog City Records, owned by Dan Prothero. The two hit it off instantly.

Returning stateside, Grey and the band - with Prothero producing - recorded Blackwater in 2001 (released on Fog City and named by Amazon.com as one of the best CDs of the decade). In 2004 - again with Prothero at the helm - they cut Lochloosa for Swampland Records.
 
JJ Grey & MOFRO's rabid following, through hard work, touring and undeniable musical prowess, grew quickly. A National Public Radio feature in 2001 brought JJ's music to more people than ever before. Doors at press, radio and venues opened across the country. JJ Grey & MOFRO performed at Bonnaroo, opened for Widespread Panic, Ben Harper, Galactic, B.B. King and Jeff Beck.
 
Word of their live show spread quickly, and bookings at festivals and concerts around the world increased, including jaw-dropping shows at The Austin City Limits Festival and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. The band continues to tour constantly, and will hit the road hard in support of COUNTRY GHETTO.
 
From gritty funk to juke joint romps to contemplative country soul to blistering rockers, JJ Grey & MOFRO occupy a distinctive space in the music world. And, like the best of the great Southern novelists, JJ Grey fills his stories and songs with details that are at once vivid and personal, political and universal. The songs and the music on COUNTRY GHETTO will make you smell the cypress trees, feel the hot breeze, taste the ho-cakes, and remind you that home is where the heart is.
 

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XM Satellite Radio's Bluesville program (channel 74) interviews blues master Coco Montoya on Tuesday, January 16 at 3:30pm Eastern time, the street date for Coco's new cd, Dirty Deal.

Coco and Bluesville host Bill Wax track through the new CD and discuss Coco's career, his influences and nearly every song on the Dirty Deal.

The program will air again on Friday, January 26 at 4:00pm Eastern time, and again on Sunday, February 4 at 7:00pm Eastern time.

For more details go to: http://www.xmradio.com/onxm/channelguide.xmc?ch+74 .

ALLIGATOR PREPARES DOUBLE RELEASE

Alligator Records has set a January 16 release date for new CDs from gospel/soul/blues masters The Holmes Brothers (Wendell Holmes, Sherman Holmes, and Popsy Dixon) and legendary guitarist/vocalist Coco Montoya. STATE OF GRACE is The Holmes Brothers third Alligator Release, and it features their spine-tingling harmonies, boundless energy and telepathic musicianship on a set of stellar originals and well-chosen covers. Little Feat’s Paul Barrere produced DIRTY DEAL, Montoya’s third Alligator CD. On DIRTY DEAL, Montoya -- a close friend and protégé of the late Albert Collins as well as a ten-year veteran of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers -- plays and sings some of his fiercest music yet.

STATE OF GRACE was produced by Craig Street (Norah Jones, John Legend, Cassandra Wilson) who also produced the Holmes Brothers’ previous CD, Simple Truths. Noted for their ability to transform songs by legendary writers from The Beatles to Tom Waits to Bob Marley, The Holmes Brothers push that tradition even farther on STATE OF GRACE. They expertly reinvent songs by writers as diverse as John Fogerty (Bad Moon Rising), Cheap Trick (I Want You To Want Me), Hank Williams, Sr. (I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You), Nick Lowe (What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love And Understanding?), George Jones (Ain’t It Funny What A Fool Will Do), and Lyle Lovett (God Will, If I Had A Boat), delivering versions that need to be heard to be believed.

For the first time, several of The Holmes Brothers’ star friends add talents to the sessions. Levon Helm, drummer/vocalist from The Band, joined by his daughter Amy Helm, makes his first vocal recording since recovering from throat cancer with a heartfelt lead on I’ve Just Seen The Rock Of Ages. On the Hank Williams classic I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You Wendell trades verses with Rosanne Cash in a mesmerizing performance. And old friend Joan Osborne (who has been touring as a vocalist with The Dead and Phil Lesh & Friends) steps out on a bluesy, storefront church version of Those Memories Of You. The Holmes Brothers interplay of their voices with their guests’ is simple, musical magic.

As incredible as they are as interpreters (OffBeat calls them “the best interpretive group working today”), The Holmes Brothers are equally talented songwriters. Exceptional originals Gasoline Drawers, Smiling Face Hiding A Weeping Heart, Close The Door and Standing In The Need Of Love showcase the same true-life stories, depth of feeling, heartbreak and humor found in the timeless songs they choose to cover. With one foot firmly planted in the secular world, The Holmes Brothers layer their songs with rich gospel harmonies and alternately rough-edged and tender vocals, producing what is undoubtedly their richest and most fully realized album.

With their deeply soulful singing, spine-tingling harmonies and unsurpassed musicianship. Billboard declares, “It seems like The Holmes Brothers get more assured and exciting with each passing year. The Holmes Brothers remain a musical force unto themselves.” Their non-stop touring brings this force from concert halls to roadhouse bars, leaving their fervent fans in a state of ecstatic joy.

On DIRTY DEAL, Coco Montoya, along with his road-tested, red-hot touring band, uses blues as a blasting off point for his emotional, soulful music. With his icy-hot guitar playing and his passionate, unaffected vocals, he attacks each of the 11 songs with deep feeling and ferocious energy. Montoya’s friends, Little Feat members Paul Barerre, Kenny Gradney, Richie Hayward and Bill Payne, add their unique talents to the mix as well. Produced by Barrere and engineer Roger Cole, every song on DIRTY DEAL—the rockers as well as the ballads—burns from start to finish. Montoya brings all the unbridled force of his acclaimed live shows into the studio for a foot-stomping, guitar-fueled ride. DIRTY DEAL is Montoya’s rawest, most stripped-down and impassioned recording to date.

Montoya first met Barerre and Little Feat at a blues festival and instantly hit it off. According to Barerre, “Coco’s playing was inspirational to me, great tone and attitude.” The band invited Montoya to their annual Feat Festival in Jamaica two years in a row. “Our fans took to him like butter on bread,” recalls Barerre. “He fit in so well with the band that I knew I had to produce him. I really wanted to get that live feel from him on a recording, and that’s just what we did. He rips the guitar solos, and his voice is as strong as three-day-old coffee.”

Averaging over 150 tour dates a year, Montoya continues to pack clubs and theaters around the world. He has played major festivals, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Chicago Blues Festival, The San Francisco Blues Festival and Canada’s International Jazz Festival. It’s no coincidence that publications from The Philadelphia Daily News to Blues Revue to Living Blues to The Village Voice all rank Coco among the best guitarists and singers on the blues scene. “Montoya is at the forefront of the contemporary blues world,” declared Guitar World. “He is one of the truly gifted blues artists of his generation,” said Living Blues. With DIRTY DEAL and continued non-stop touring, Coco Montoya continues to share his gift with his legion of admirers all over the world.

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SEVEN ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE 13
BLUES MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS!

The Blues Foundation today announced the nominees for the 2007 Blues Music Awards. Seven Alligator recording artists received a total of 13 nominations. Chicago blues legend Lil’ Ed Williams and his band The Blues Imperials received a total of three nominations (including nods for the coveted Entertainer of the Year and Band of the Year awards). Guitar Shorty also picked up three nominations. Acoustic blues duo Cephas & Wiggins and Austin-based pianist Marcia Ball each received two. Eric Lindell, Shemekia Copeland, and Siegel-Schwall Band drummer Sam Lay each received one nomination. The Blues Music Awards ceremony and concert will be held May 10, 2007 at the Cook Convention Center in downtown Memphis. Alligator artists and nominations are as follows:

LIL’ ED AND THE BLUES IMPERIALS
B.B. King Entertainer of the Year (Lil’ Ed Williams)
Band of the Year (Lil’ Ed and The Blues Imperials)
Song of the year - Icicles In My Meatloaf, from Rattleshake

GUITAR SHORTY
Contemporary Blues Album of the Year:
We The People
Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year
Instrumentalist of the Year – Guitar

MARCIA BALL
Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year
Pinetop Perkins Piano Player of the Year

CEPHAS & WIGGINS
Acoustic Album of the Year:
Shoulder To Shoulder
Acoustic Artist of the Year

SHEMEKIA COPELAND
Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year

ERIC LINDELL
Best New Artist Debut:
Change In The Weather

SAM LAY (THE SIEGEL-SCHWALL BLUES BAND)
Instrumentalist of the Year - Drums

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ALLIGATOR RECORDS SIGNS JJ GREY & MOFRO!

“Quietly intoxicating with a stunning melodic freshness…focused, deep songs.”

--The Boston Globe

Alligator Records is pleased to announce the signing of down home roots, rock and soul artist JJ Grey & his band MOFRO. Grey’s Alligator debut, Country Ghetto will be released in February 2007. Country Ghetto (produced by Dan Prothero) features 12 original JJ Grey compositions that come right out of the Southern musical and literary tradition. While his songwriting inspirations range from Bill Withers, Van Morrison, and Dan Penn, Grey’s songs are always his own, oftentimes relating to the loss of his natural surroundings and the marginalization of the Southern culture he grew up in.

Grey, with longtime musical partner, guitarist Daryl Hance, has released two previous albums under the band name MOFRO: 2001’s Blackwater (named by Amazon.com as one of the best CDs of the decade) and 2004’s Lochloosa. From the beginning, Grey’s songs have been connected to his ancestral Florida homestead forty miles outside of Jacksonville, a landscape he writes about with passion and devotion.

Grey’s ear for detail inhabits his songs, whether it is a story passed down to him from his grandmother or the tribulations of a childhood friend. Grey’s voice delivers them with an unflinching force that makes the personal universal and paints a vivid portrait of an exact time or place with words and music. Like his songs, his rich, soulful vocals are forceful and commanding, seemingly old beyond his years. Delivered with brilliant musicianship, the result is both thought provoking and rhythmically and texturally mesmerizing.

Live, JJ Grey & MOFRO blaze their own spontaneous path, performing at festivals and concerts around the world, including jaw-dropping shows at Bonnaroo, The Austin City Limits Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

From gritty funk to juke joint romps, from contemplative country soul to blistering rockers, JJ Grey & MOFRO occupy a unique space in the music world. And, like the best of the great Southern novelists, JJ Grey fills his stories and songs with details that are at once vivid and personal, political and universal. The songs and the music will make you smell the cypress trees, feel the hot breeze, taste the ho-cakes, and remind you that home is where the heart is.

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MICHEAL BURKS WINS DELTA CULTURAL CENTER SONNY PAYNE AWARD FOR BLUES EXCELLENCE

Boogie-woogie blues pianist/vocalist/songwriter Marcia Ball can be seen in three national television programs currently airing. On October 14, 2006, Austin City Limits debuts The New Orleans Social Club. Featuring The Neville Brothers, Willie Tee and others, Ball sings Red Beans, and joins her close friend Irma Thomas on Look Up and Yield Not To Temptation.

She appears in Robert Mugge’s film, New Orleans Music In Exile, airing on the Starz cable television network. The film follows many New Orleans musicians after the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Ball is seen delivering a new keyboard to piano legend Eddie Bo, and performing two songs, including Randy Newman’s Louisiana 1927. The show originally aired in May 2006 and is still airing regularly on the network.

And, in a show filmed for PBS earlier this year, Ball joins the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in Cincinnati Pops: A Musical Celebration of America’s Rivers. She performs Way Down Yonder In New Orleans and Louisiana 1927. The program first aired on September 28, 2006.

Rhode Island's most famous blues band, Roomful of Blues, will appear live on Good Morning America on Sunday, September 24 at 8:30am eastern time. They will perform Just Keep On Rocking off of their latest Alligator CD, STANDING ROOM ONLY. The show is featuring the Taste Of Rhode Island that day, where Roomful of Blues is scheduled to perform.