Jim Halfpenny(I)

Jim Halfpenny was born in a rural, desert farming community in Southern California. During his high school days his summer vacations were spent driving tractor and working in the fields, often side by side with migrant farm workers. At night he'd practice guitar and perform at parties and high school dances in the rock band where he wrote his very first song. When one considers these rootsy origins it becomes clear why Jim's music is rich with earthy textures - he has borrowed inspirational essence from the soil he used to cultivate as a kid, and from the limestone beds of the Texas Hill Country where he has now transplanted himself.

In July of 1986 Jim moved to Los Angeles where he performed on "The Strip" in rock bands, graduated from Musician's Institute and attended UCLA to study film composition. After composing the scores for over a dozen films for grad students at AFI, USC and UCLA he landed his first professional gig as a film composer. Taking a leap of faith he quit his day job and dove head-first into his new career. During Jim's twelve years of working in Los Angeles' competitive film business his music credits tallied over 25 feature film scores, dozens of movie trailers, a 13 episode series for television and a musical production for the stage. His film compositions encompass musical styles ranging from rap to orchestral and everything in between. During this time Jim also became a featured columnist for "The Score" a quarterly periodical published by and for The Society of Composers and Lyricists. In the summer of 2002 Jim and his wife found themselves attracted to the Texas Hill Country. They soon relocated and bought a house and some land where they built a recording studio and named it Back 40 Studios.

Taking advantage of new found inspiration, the first project to come out of Back 40 Studios was Jim's debut CD, First Things First. The album was released in June of 2006 and by the end of that summer it had garnered some pretty impressive reviews in music magazines both regionally and abroad. "Halfpenny writes deep, thought provoking lyrics", wrote Maria Mesa of Austin Daze magazine, "one of the better singer/songwriters to come my way." Jim Caligiuri, of the Austin Chronicle noted in his review, "First Things First is filled with sturdy roots rock and occasional treks to Dave Matthews' space jazz." "Highly recommended!" quoted Laura Bethell of Maverick Magazine in Kent, England. The CD soon found its way to the airwaves both locally in Austin and regionally on independent radio stations across Central Texas. In the spring of 2009 Jim's saxophone-laced newgrass song, Severe Weather was selected to be on Austin NPR's first-ever Texas Music Matters Playlist - it was one of only 15 songs chosen out of hundreds of submissions. Laura Slavin of KPFT FM, in Houston, also began playing Severe Weather regularly on her program and has repeatedly invited Jim to play live-on-air on her show. Jim's second CD, Truth Trust & Other Ghosts, was released in June of 2010 and hit the road running, hitting the national Americana (AMA) Charts and receiving airplay on radio stations ranging from coast to coast. In January of 2011 radio station WWSP FM, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, included the Truth Trust & Other Ghosts #5 track, Dandelion, on their BEST OF 2010 RELEASES list.

Jim continues to compose, record and perform live as a singer/songwriter.