Bill, you are absolutely right. The crowds want to be entertained, and they want quality vocals - the backing is secondary. Rosetree, there are an enormous number of highly skilled players in my area, most are out of work. They cannot find a job anywhere because they don't sing and they don't have a singer that will work for the amount of money a duo would pay.

There used to be some jazz clubs here, but those jazz trios, and there were several around, no longer exist, mainly because there is no demand for them by the club audiences. The trios usually consisted of a guitar player, a slap bass player and maybe a drummer, or piano player - but no vocals. To everyone other than jazz aficionados this gets real boring after just 30 minutes.

The happy hours here, at least those in the restaurants and bars, and combinations thereof, VFWs, American Legions, Animal clubs, are almost all OMB entertainers. I know a couple sax players that used their PCs with backing tracks, but they also sing very well and are great entertainers. They interact extremely well with their audiences, and they have lots of weekend work. The same holds true with some highly talented guitar players. They too are using backing tracks and singing, and one of them that I know personally, sounds a lot like Don Mason on the keyboard when Don is emulating the guitar with his gifted right hand licks.

On weekdays, these same entertainers are working the nursing home circuit. Why? Because that's where the money is - it's not in the places they perform on weekends. Granted, they all claim they enjoy the weekend jobs more, but that circuit still pays the same as it did when I was a green kid sitting on a barstool with my 12-string guitar and a pawn shop amp singing country songs to a crowd of drunks in a smoke-filled bar room.

Bottom line, if you want lots of work, at least everyplace I've visited, you must first and foremost be a great entertainer, which includes great vocals and interacting with the audiences. Secondarily, you need to be a fair - not great, musician. If you have decent chops, can follow the regimented tempo of an arranger with both your vocals and right hand, you can find lots and lots of work everywhere in the U.S..

My wife and I have driven extensively throughout the eastern and central United States, visiting forum members, watching them work on stage, and taking notes on what made them successful. On one trip, we covered more than 5,000 miles, made stops in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, both coasts of Florida and the Florida Keys, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Jersey, and Delaware, then returned home. We met with performers, many of whom are forum members, in each of those states. We exchanged ideas, tips, and learned a lot from each other. In each and every instance, we all agreed that quality vocals were of paramount importance and had to be emphasized with the best sound system available, one the placed an emphasis on vocal quality. We discussed mics. Several entertainers, including one lady entertainer, seemed to like the advantages of using a headset mic. She tried my Crown CM311A, used it for 20 minutes, then said she just didn't feel comfortable with with and went back to her Sennheiser E855. She has a very bluesy sounding voice, really sexy sounding, and utilized the pullaway technique a lot because of her limited vocal range. We spent some time talking with her about taking vocal lessons at the local community college, she did take the lessons, and emailed me to tell me how much it expanded her vocal range because of improved breathing techniques.

Now, there are a handful of guys on this, and other, forums that have made a decent living performing just intrumentals, but that number is infinitesimally small. Captain Russ does real well, he has been performing at the same clubs for decades, and he's essentially part of the furniture at those locations. However, those performances are only a tiny fraction of his musical income, and he will verify this I'm sure. Chas is an incredible player, but I've never heard him sing, and I don't know if he plays out at all these days. Boo (brickboo) can play the sax as well as anyone out there, but Boo can't play the sax and sing at the same time, obviously, and where he's at in Colorado he says there is just no work for him.

I guess if I were a great, or even a good, musician, one that was Peabody trained, and could not sing, I would have a difficult time finding work anywhere I've traveled. But, as a mediocre player that can sing the ass off most popular songs from the 1940s to the 1980s, and perform a variety of genres, for me, finding work has been easy - not just here, but everywhere I've traveled.

My suggestion to anyone that wishes to find work in this business is to visit other players, on this and other similar forums, in person. Pick their brains, watch them perform, learn how they work and read a crowd, time their dead time between songs, take a close look at their entire rig, take note on how they run the entire operation from beginning to end. You can learn an awful lot from these very talented individuals - I know I sure did.

Good luck,

Gary