JJ Grey & Mofro

JJ Grey’s music is a lot like his life: blue-collar and reflective. The Florida native combines regional influences with blues, swamp rock, and Muscle Shoals and Memphis R&B. After a decade paying his dues on the live circuit, Grey released his debut album Blackwater in 2001. Five subsequent albums increasingly show off his blossoming storytelling. His latest record with the six-member Mofro, last year's live Brighter Days, showcases his preacher-like fervor in front of an audience he knows well. When he sings about hard times, it’s familiar territory for Grey, who balances his musical career with family life. But he doesn't let it get him down; rather, it serves as inspiration. Obstacles are just one more step toward better days. Songs like “Lochloosa” (about a local lake that he's preserving from developers) and “Georgia Warhorse” (it's a resilient Southern grasshopper) may have their roots in Grey’s part of the country, but he’s wise enough to adapt them toward larger, and more universal, truths. With Grooveshire. 8 p.m. Tickets: $20, $18.50 in advance. – John Patrick Gatta