Before the end August of 2002 Jim and his wife lived in Sherman Oaks, California, a suburb of Los Angeles just over the hill from Hollywood.  He had graduated from Musician’s Institute and attended UCLA to study film composition and his career as a film composer was taking off strong.   In his eleven years in the film music business his credits tallied 25 feature film scores, dozens of movie trailers, a 13 episode series for television, a musical for the stage, and numerous published songs.  His film work often encompassed musical styles ranging from rap to orchestral and everything in between.  A short vacation trip to visit friends in Austin changed all of that.  After returning to LA Jim and his wife sold their home, left California and bought a house and some land in the hill country outside of Austin.  Two years later they built a recording studio on their property and named it Back 40 Studios.  

The first significant work to come out of Back 40 Studios was Jim’s debut CD, First Things First.  The CD contained a few songs that had traveled with him from California along with some freshly written Texas inspirations.  First Things First was released in June of 2006 and by mid-summer the CD had garnered some impressive reviews in Austin area magazines.  “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.”  The CD soon found its way to the airwaves both locally in Austin and regionally on independent radio stations across Central Texas.  Bryan Beck, the morning show host at KGSR radio in Austin introduced one of Jim’s songs by saying, "First things first, LISTEN to this CD!  Jim Halfpenny writes from the heart about things we all love and fear and then puts them to a beat you can cruise to." 

Jim’s music has been compared to as a mixture of Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Glen Phillips and Dave Matthews.  He carefully balances the narrow beams between rock, pop and folk with the agility of an acrobat.  What seems to be an ever present thread in each of his songs is a conscious effort to maintain lyrical integrity and musical originality.  These efforts are what make Jim Halfpenny’s music instantly recognizable.  At 50 years old he is experienced enough to know what he wants.  He holds songwriters like Eliza Gilkyson, who earned her first Grammy Award nomination at age 55, as role models: musicians that found their stride and are producing their best work at a later age than the industry standard “25 year old stars.”  He knows it won’t be easy.  "An old farm foreman once told me,” Jim relates, “ it takes more than just sun, water and hard work to make a living out of farming.  You need to be god-awful stubborn and a little crazy too. Over the years I’ve come to realize that music business is hell of a lot like farming."

Using lessons hard-learned from those early farmland experiences, Jim continues to cultivate his music and works to grow and raise a faithful following with live performances both with the Jim Halfpenny Band and as a solo artist.  In July of this year Jim and his group finished work on their second CD, entitled Truth Trust and Other Ghosts, which is scheduled to be released in the winter of 2009.