145 – Ganesh Giri Jaya Pt. 1: Making His Living With Cover/Tribute Bands, Leading and Singing from the Drums, Yoga and Spiritual Practice

Ganesh Giri Jaya was born in New Orleans, moved to Atlanta at age 16, spent his early 20’s in L.A. and Portland, and ultimately returned to Atlanta where he has remained for the past 25 years. His career has usually found him drumming and/or singing in cover and tribute bands of various types. He was one of the original members of Yacht Rock Revue and for the past few years has been the singer, drummer, and leader of its overflow band, Yacht Rock Schooner. Those bands and a few others are under the umbrella of the entertainment company PleaseRock. In his mid 20s, he was introduced to yoga and soon delved deeper into it, beyond the physical practice most of us have done at least once, and into the spiritual, emotional and psychological lessons it has to offer.

In this podcast, Ganesh talks about:

The origins of Yacht Rock Revue and Yacht Rock Schooner

The popularity of cover/tribute bands, and their market value vs. original artists

Social media marketing strategies

How over-preparing allows you to play through nerves

His process for learning songs

Our mutual admiration of Levon Helm

His yoga practice

Playing with bassist Khari Simmons

This episode is sponsored by Crush Drums