JJ Grey & Mofro

Representing the old Florida that's all too rapidly getting strip malled and Disneyfied, Mofro burst out of Jacksonville in 2001 with this sticky, groovy, sweat-drenched debut. Lead singer JJ Grey is a cracker Otis Redding, his smoldering croon the dowsing rod that leads the rest of his band to its soulful source. Grey's longtime surfing buddy, slide guitarist Daryl Hance, stirs the pot like a more-stoned Duane Allman and stands out on the lead track and funkier numbers like "Ho Cake" and "Lazy Fo Acre." The Deep South don't get much deeper than this.