Epidode 317: Jim O’Farrell

Jim's next gig is Saturday, March 22 at the Eastwood Farm & Winery at 2531 Scottsville Rd, Charlottesville from 12:30 to 3:30pm.

After a twenty-eight year career, Jim O’Farrell retired from the Army about sixteen years ago. Jim has been playing a guitar since childhood and now between being in a band and singing solo, a lot of his retirement is filled with writing and playing music. He told Paul what types of venues he plays, the type of music he plays solo as well as with the band and his method for writing songs. They then had a discussion about the history of the Blues, his musical influences and who some of his favorite artists are, both past and present. They talked about Jim being a Vegan along with the way he has changed his gym time mentality and how that has changed his life for the better. They also spoke about how Jim was affected by his interaction with the USO when he was a young soldier. For about the last eight years, Jim has been a volunteer for the USO at the Richmond International Airport and he told Paul about the mission of the USO and why Richmond is a unique USO Center. They discussed him growing up in northern Virginia and his interests which were motorcycles, playing the guitar and martial arts. Jim told Paul he knew he was going into the military at an early age, but he was the first in his family to make it a career. They discussed his military career including his hardest training and his deployments and then they finished by talking about his three sons