Singer, songwriter, guitar player, recording artist --
"Acoustic Alternative Rock and more."
When Jim O’Ferrell was first deployed to Iraq in 2006, he found refuge in his guitar.
He’d been playing since he was 10 years old — when he used a Hank Williams songbook to teach himself how to play chords. While overseas, he gave other soldiers lessons with guitars shipped to him by his brother — and began to write songs about his time in the service.
“I was in a certain headspace at that time, and I just needed to get [the songs] out and put them on paper,” O’Ferrell said.
After retiring from the Army in 2008, he founded The Jim O’Ferrell Band — or The J.O.B — with guitarist Jason Crawford. The pair brought the songs O’Ferrell wrote from the battlefield back home to Richmond.
Fueled by the sheer power of human connection
The J.O.B. from Richmond, Virginia is a band on a mission to touch the lives of everyday people with their music. Founders, Jim O’Ferrell (singer-guitarist) and Jason Crawford (lead guitarist), originally started the group in 2007 to record songs that O’Ferrell had composed during his recent deployment to the war in Iraq. They recorded their first EP shortly before O’Ferrell was called to serve overseas once again.
A year later, in 2008, O’Ferrell was back from the war for good. Honorably discharged, he faced a new reality from a perspective that only a veteran can have. He had a trove of experiences and inspirations just waiting to be turned into songs, and that is when The J.O.B. began their musical evolution to become the potent alternative rock band they are today.
The J.O.B. are storytellers, taking authentic human experiences and reflecting them like a mirror onto their audience. Their music is a true companion that makes people’s emotions relevant and meaningful. Every face in the crowd is an individual opportunity to form a bond.
The J.O.B.’s music credits include 6 studio albums, 3 nationally charted songs, and scores of live performances ranging from saloons to festivals. Their 2018 release, Highway of Shadows, was chosen by The Auricular as 1 of the "50 Best Richmond Records of 2018.”
The J.O.B.'s music is in rotation on commercial, independent, and internet radio stations all over the United States and across the globe.