Very interesting! As a musician whose bread and butter is solo acoustic cover gigs (I do pretty well), it was great to hear the tale of a working session cat in LA.

I have a booking agency that sends me out anywhere from 2 – 6 times a week to corporate-style restaurants (like Houlihan’s), bars, clubs, private parties, etc. I make enough money to live on (though my wife does need to work) and play 4 hours a night.

My advice to people who want to do what I do is learn as many songs as possible by old, new, borrowed, and blue artists. Another good thing is to go deep into the catalogs of the relatively mainstream artists you like. For example, if you play The Kinks’ “Lola” and someone likes it, you can blow their mind with “Apeman” or “Waterloo Sunset”. This strategy has gotten me from the cover gig into the more lucrative private party many times.

You will always get more tips when you focus on playing songs that you truly love (sure you have to slip in Margaritaville, but the harsh, unexpecting, unforgiving bar crowd will respect you if you wail the crap out of Message In A Bottlea). If you hate all music that wasn’t written by you personally, then you need to find another way to make a living. For those of us with big record collections and a great love of many different genres/artists/styles, this can be a great way to avoid the day gig. Much of my work is at the Jersey Shore near Philly where I live. Being near a resort area is key, I think.

I too enjoyed this interview a great deal.

Though I would never watch Dancing With The Stars as a casual viewer, I did watch the show this past week to checkout some of Greg’s playing.

That aside, this was by far one of your more entertaining while still being informative interviews.
Keep em coming, you’re doing very good work here guys!

I’d like to put my experiences in as a semi-professional working musician. I currently make a regular side income as a bass player in top 40 cover band while I also gig once a month with my solo electronic music project “Apell”. As a bass player the cover tunes are pretty easy as most pop/rock songs from AC/DC to U2 mainly require simple root notes. The main challenge is to learn the song structure and to know when to stop! If I could make enough cash playing to pay all my bills it would be great as it is much more fun than working 9-5 in an office or making coffee…

In the past year I have also started playing bass a jazz jams throughout Melbourne, Australia. This has been a great learning experience in reading charts and learning other styles of music you might not be into such as Bossa Nova. There’s no better learning experience than being asked to play a tune you’ve never heard before with no rehearsal in front of live audience.

I’d recommend going to jams around your town whether they be jazz, blues or rock as it is great experience in learning to stretch your musical abilities and to network and meet other players. Since playing at jazz jams I’ve met lots of great players and have been asked to play other gigs as a result including a jazz festival, café gigs and I even landed the role of the house bass player at Dizzy’s Jazz Club in Melbourne. While all these gigs might not necessarily pay that much some do and it all this playing leads to further exposure, gigs and opportunities. Plus it helps me that everyone needs a bass player as we’re so rare!

Excellent interview! What a nice guy. I really appreciated his candor and honesty.

Loved this interview with Greg Poree.
THE announcer was great. How may i get in touch
with great podcasters like u guys? I have one of the world’s greatest radio voices and can interview anyone. I have 26 years in the biz…sorry GREG its my passion….my email is cdeshazior@yahoo.com…its a long story how i found u guys tonite….my uncle sings country music and i found him on cd baby….he’s Frank wade jr…the song is I STILL THINK AMERICA IS NUMBER ONE. god bless you.

Thanks for the great episode. I really enjoyed it. I must admit, it sent me a shiver to hear his opinion on knowing how to read music.

I’m self taught and do not read music. Even though I feel I’ve been given a special talent to just make music out of this air, I’m still jealous of cats that can read.

Oh well, we can’t have our cake and eat it too, can we?