Blues Union’s mission is to help people become better blues dancers, as well as better blues DJs! We are committed to playing a variety of good blues music for our dancers, and we’d love to help you do the same.
On this page, we’ve included guidelines for DJing at Blues Union, a sample setlist, and suggestions for ways to find new music. Enjoy!
Want to DJ for Blues Union?
Send an email to DJ.Blues.Union@gmail.com to get started, and someone will follow up with you from there!
Guidelines for DJing at Blues Union
- In your DJ session, 75% of your songs must be blues music. “Blues music” includes music you would find in the “blues” category of a music store. This includes, but is not limited to, the following styles:
- Delta blues
- Texas blues
- Chicago blues
- Electric Blues
- Classic Blues
- Jazz-Blues (Traditional Jazz, Big Bands playing Blues)
You can find examples of these genres by visiting the wikipedia pages or listening to the genre stations by the same name on Pandora.com.
Also, as a part of the 75% blues, we are including the following genres:There is a huge variety within the genre of blues, so feel free to explore the full range, while staying within the genre.
- The other 25% must be blues-related music, such as soul, funk, slow lindy, or blues-rock, and other genres that toe the line with blues. Ultimately, we want to play music that makes people want to blues dance.
- Additionally, we encourage you to play songs with good sound quality (that don’t have a lot of scratching or crackling). While the song itself may be excellent, poor sound quality makes it difficult to hear, and therefore unnecessarily difficult to dance to.
- The bottom line of these guidelines is that we want you to play music that makes people move, but specifically makes them want to blues dance.
Sample playlist
To help you prepare and to give you an example of a good playlist, we have included a sample set below:
1. “Dust My Broom” – Elmore James
2. “All My Love In Vain” – Sonny Boy Williamson
3. “Flamin’ Mamie” – Koko Taylor
4. “I’m Ready” – Muddy Waters
5. “Spoonful” – Howlin’ Wolf
6. “Bad Luck Messin’ With Me” – Brother Yusef*
7. “My Babe” – Little Walter
8. “Come On Back To Me” – Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson
9. “Born Under A Bad Sign” – Albert King
10. “Call It Stormy Monday” – T-Bone Walker
11. “Blues For Mama” – Nina Simone
12. “Stormy Blues” – Billie Holiday
13. “Blue Horizon” – Sidney Bechet
14. “I Can’t Get Over Losing You” – Toni Lynn Washington**
15. “I’d Rather Go Blind” – Etta James
16. “Dr. Feelgood” – Aretha Franklin
* Still active
** Still active AND performs locally!
A playlist for the majority of these tracks can be found at:
DJ FAQs
I want to DJ at Blues Union! How do I get started?
Whether you are aspiring or experienced, start by filling out this form to tell us a little bit about yourself and your DJ interests! Then come to a dance at Blues Union and introduce yourself to our DJ coordinator, Amy Blank (they/them), or one of the evening’s hosts.
I have never DJed before. I’m excited to try, but I don’t know where to start! Help?
We love working with aspiring DJs! No matter where you’re starting, we’ve got training options to help you build your skills (see below).
What kind of DJ training do you offer?
Existing training options:
- shadow an experienced DJ and ask questions
- build a playlist and get feedback
- do a 15min, 30min, or 45min mini practice set during our unstructured hour (8-9pm) at a dance and receive feedback (during or after)
- if desired & available, an experienced DJ can also sit with you during your practice set, answer your questions, and otherwise support you as desired
- do a 1-hour full length practice set during our unstructured hour (8-9pm) at a dance and receive feedback (during or after)
- if desired & available, an experienced DJ can also sit with you during your practice set, answer your questions, and otherwise support you as desired
Coming soon:
- shared blues music library and laptop that you can borrow to practice creating a playlist to DJ with, before your own library is built up
- DJ hangouts where we talk about music and play DJ games
- music discussions during unstructured time
Do I need any special equipment to DJ at Blues Union?
You’ll need a device with music on it that a regular headphone-style audio jack can plug into–this could be a laptop, tablet, or phone at first. (Coming soon, we’ll also have a loaner laptop with pre-loaded music if you don’t have your library built up yet.)
Many DJs like to have a second device for previewing their music or fancier setups with more equipment, but none of that is required to get started.
I’m an experienced blues dance DJ. How is the process different for me?
Welcome, we’re excited to have you! We still want to chat and get to know you as a community member and a DJ before you get started, so please fill out the form and talk to our DJ coordinator, Amy Blank (they/them).
With experienced DJs we usually ask for a sample playlist from a set you’ve previously DJed as a jumping off point to talk about your interests, what you’re working on, and the norms in this particular community. Then depending on your experience, we may ask you to do a practice set during community studio time, or we may schedule you for a regular set right away.
I’m an experienced DJ in another style. How is the process different for me?
Welcome, we’re excited to have you! We still want to chat and get to know you as a community member and a DJ before you get started, so please fill out the form, come to a dance, and talk to our DJ coordinator, Amy Blank (they/them).
We can point you in the right direction for building your blues music collection if you need it, and we’ll talk about the details of different music styles and the norms in this particular community. Once you have enough blues music, send us a sample playlist and we’ll use that as a starting point for further discussion as well as schedule you for a practice set with feedback from one of our experienced blues DJs.
Resources for new (or new to Blues) DJs
How do I find new music?
A good DJ is always looking for new music, but how do you find it? Below are some suggestions we’ve come up with. Try some of these out and go exploring! There are so many good blues songs out there, you may find things we’ haven’t even heard yet!
- Start a Pandora or Spotify station from any of the songs in the sample playlist above, or one of your other favorite blues songs.
- Spend an afternoon at your favorite local music store, previewing CDs from the blues section.
- Go out to local blues music shows and buy the musicians’ CDs.
- Ask your favorite DJs who their favorite artists are right now, go on Amazon.com, emusic, etc, and look through related artists.
- If you have a favorite song, look for different songs by the same artist or versions of that song by different artists.