The Poor Poor Rich are an ever evolving line up of musicians from the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa area. The current lineup is fronted by Wes Shirley on guitar, vocal and songwriting duties, with Rich Wagor on bass, Ben Schmidt on lead guitar and keyboards, Jonathan Welch on fiddle, and Wyatt Forster on drums. Making a sound well defined by roots rock and Americana, the band brings in other influences like indie rock, jazz, classical and even some Eastern European/Klezmer. The band is currently in the studio working on songs for its first full length release, after releasing two EP’s, Eponymous in 2017, and Ocotillo in 2021. The band plans to release a number of songs as singles, building up to filling out a full length release.

Collectively the band has decades of experience performing music in a wide swath of genres and settings. Wes brings a history of playing in indie rock, country, punk and roots rock outfits before relocating to Iowa from Oregon. Rich is a journeyman musician, playing in jazz combos, classical orchestras, and roots rock outfits like The Berneman Brothers Band and with Brian Johanessen. Ben Schmidt is also a veteran of the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids music scene, fronting his own band and acting as a sideman for a number of local musicians. Jonathan Welch brings a classical music perspective, as his day job is Orchestra Director at Iowa City West High School, and brings some Appalachian flavors from his hometown of Cincinnati. Wyatt Forster, although the youngun of the band, still brings a decade of playing guitar, bass and drums in various bands and on his own projects.