W.S. Walcott Medicine Show

Todd Farrell Jr. – Might As Well Be Ghosts

Todd Farrell’s latest album, Might As Well Be Ghosts, is the latest installment in Todd’s ongoing saga of the everyday trials, tribulations, glories and mendacity of a struggling touring baseball loving musician from the south.  A saga which began with 2013’s Dirty Birds’ album All Our Heroes Live In Vans and has continued through most of his work with The Benchmarks.

Life has changed and moved on quite a bit for Farrell since his days with The Dirty Birds.  He’s a husband and father now, so the life of traversing the country in the back of a van with his fellow bandmates is more or less a thing of the past but nonetheless, the memories and captivating vignettes live on through his songs like opening track “Local Pickup Only”, a quiet finger picked ditty which laments the story of selling that touring van that has been home away from home for countless years and hundreds of thousands of miles, not to mention a myriad of stories.

The album itself is filled with images of memories, both remembered and some forgotten.  Ghosts of a way of life no longer lived, yet, still a past which has shaped and made the life to which the artist is now enveloped in.  Might As Well Be Ghosts is predominantly a collection of songs and of course stories, (because as good a musician as Todd is, he is an incredible story teller as well) which came to life in his Nashville living room during the isolation of the pandemic.  Originally these songs were nothing more than ways for him to pass the tedious time during those days and nights of sequestered isolation.  But soon the demos were being shared with friends and fellow musicians of Farrell’s and like so many other artists during these crazy days, a beautiful work of art and music was created via file sharing and zoom sessions.  Never intended to be an actual releasable album, I have to give a huge shout out to our mutual friend Joe Maiocco for pressing and ultimately convincing Todd to formally make these wonderful tunes available for our ears to relish in.

I’ve already mentioned how baseball is a constantly recurring motif throughout this collection, not to mention most of Todd’s past work.  (SIDENOTE:  For those not familiar with TFJr., checkout his song “Bobby & Chipper”, one of the best baseball songs ever written, despite it being about my and my Mets’ archrival Braves, a topic to which I’ve constantly given Todd a hard time about.  #LGM).  But in addition to baseball, metal music is also weaving its way in and out of Ghosts.  This, in and of itself, seems odd considering how soft and gentle some of these tunes come across, but make no mistake, Iron Maiden lives on forever in the Farrell ethos.

From the heartland rocking of “Northern Lights” to the gut wrenching “Health & Safe Passage”, ghosts is filled with heart warming tunes, exemplary guitar picking and vignettes that can’t help but touch you.  The aforementioned “Health & Safe Passage” is particularly beautiful and moving.  Another life on the road song, one which subtly alludes to the tragic story of friend and fellow musician Chris Porter who was lost to us in a traffic accident while he was on the road in South Carolina on his way to Baltimore to commence a tour of the North East back in 2016.

All in all, Might As Well Be Ghosts is an exemplary album which anyone who enjoys crack guitar playing coupled with poignant and touching words and stories should enjoy.  It surely will be one which sits firmly entrenched with the top releases of 2024 for myself.  My only complaint, and this is more me being nit-picky, more than anything else is the sequencing of “See You Next Year” in the middle of the LP rather than as the closing song where I (personally) feel it would have been a perfect fit.  

Unfortunately, right now it’s not available on the regular streaming sites but it can be heard over on Todd’s bandcamp.  I wholeheartedly suggest that you head on over there, give it a listen and then toss Todd some shekels and download this heart warming collection of gorgeously touching tunes.