Sol man: JJ Grey & Mofro to headline two festival concerts this weekend in St. Augustine

When JJ Grey was putting together the first Blackwater Sol Revue music festival in 2007, he was involved with everything. That's not really the case these days, though.

"I did it two years and I was like, 'I’m done with this,'" Grey said. "At the end of the day, I’d rather just play music and let someone else do the festival part. Now all I have to do is show up and play."

Grey and his band, Mofro, will show up and play twice this weekend when Blackwater Sol Revue returns to the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. Mofro headlines both nights, but has a different cast of opening acts for each. On Saturday, Satsang, American Aquarium and Lucero are on the bill. For Sunday, it's Anders Osborne, G. Love & Special Sauce and the Allman Betts Band.

Grey said it's never difficult to talk acts into playing the festival, which has always been held at the amphitheater. He said he doesn't personally make the calls but the acts are mostly friends he's made during two decades on the road.

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"A lot of it is people we know and have played with over the years," Grey said. "We all chew the same dirt a lot."

There have been quite a few iterations of Mofro over the years, but this one is filled with musicians with ties to Jacksonville. Several band members came through the jazz studies program at the University of North Florida. Bass player Todd Smalley lives in Colorado but spent some time playing with Jacksonville's Derek Trucks Band.

The 11-piece band includes backup singers and horn section. They'll spend most of June touring Europe, then spend the summer playing festivals and amphitheaters. In the fall, the band will go out as an opening act for Whiskey Myers. Grey said Mofro doesn't do a lot of shows opening for other acts because of its back catalog and the size of the band.

"I’m kind of in the position where, becuase I’ve got such a big band, it’s kind of tough to get opening slots that actually make sense," Grey said. "We’re not on the radio or late night TV but we have a decent audience. A lot of the bigger acts, they'd rather have someone with a following on the radio."

Grey has a new album to promote on the tour. "Olustee" came out earlier this year but was percolating for years before its release. "I started recording this probably in 2016, about a year after 'Old Glory' came out. If you added up all the time I spent working on it, I probably didn’t spend any more time than any other record; it was all just spread out."

Grey wrote most of the songs, arranged and produced the record and drew the cover artwork himself. "I go through lazy spells where I don't do nothing, then I go through spells where I go pretty hard," he explained.

He said several songs from the record will make their way into Mofro's stage show. The album includes John Anderson's "Seminole Wind," which Mofro has been playing for years. "I’ve done it in every kind of band I’ve ever been in, from back when I was 17 years old," he said. "Whenever John Anderson put it out, we started covering it."

Two standouts on the record are "Olustee" and "Rooster." "Olustee" recounts the wildfires that raged through much of Florida in 1998. Grey said he's been caught in scary fires at least three times in his life and he combined those experiences with a story his grandfather told about a long-ago fire for the song.

"Rooster" is the first single from the record and is Grey at his cockiest. Grey said it was inspired by Jim Jim, a rooster he had as a kid. "I've seen him run straight at danger. He reminded me of a lot of the men I grew up with."

Grey, a Jacksonville native, is a spokeman for the Live Wildly Foundation, which advocates for the protection of the state's wild spaces. The foundation is the title sponsor of the Blackwater Sol Revue shows.

Gates for Saturday and Sunday's shows open at 4 p.m. and music on the main stage starts at 5 p.m. On Saturday, Kendall Street Company will open the event, playing on the venue's Front Porch stage. On Sunday, Smokestack plays the Front Porch at 4 p.m. Tickets are $60.50-$70.50 for each show.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: JJ Grey & Mofro headline music festival this weekend in St. Augustine