Meet Our Musicians
Meet Our DJ's
Kenneth Shipp
Anna Washenko
Leah Dudak
Daniel Miles
Melanie Whitesel
Anna honed her musical chops in Chicago, where she was co-founder and house DJ for 50Fifty, a monthly blues and lindy dance. She’s also been behind the decks at national events such as bluesShout, Blues Muse, Austin Blues Party, and Steel City Blues. Anna loves and spins all genres in the blues family, but she’s a real sucker for anything with piano.
Hailing from Nashville, Kenneth was a Hip-Hop/Break DJ for many years and felt right at home after learning the Blues. He has spent the last two years traveling to learn and DJ local and regional Blues events, with a few national stops as well. He currently DJs for Blues Dance Nashville and around the Southeast along with running two events: Southbound Blues Exchange and BluesGeek
Leah Dudak has been dancing for 7 years and started DJing at the University of Dayton about 5 years ago. Since then, she has DJed at Scramble Light Blues, MUDE swings, Hallowswing, ISLX, Timewarp Swing, and various cities throughout the Midwest. She loves mixing old, Chicago style blues with newer recordings she is always on the hunt for. Currently, you can find Leah dancing in the Chicago suburbs, working as a public librarian and going to see as much live music as she can.
Dan Miles first fell in love with the blues at the 2012 Chicago Blues Festival, on a Sunday evening, overwhelmed by their tribute to Koko Taylor, the Queen of the Chicago Blues. With that as his starting point, he has been refining his understanding of blues and exploring the rich variety of the genre ever since. Dan happily accepts the label of “traditionalist” as a blues DJ, both in the typical sense of sticking to the genre and in the sense of recognizing and embracing the blues tradition as one that is diverse, inclusive, historically rooted, and still very much alive today. Expect his sets to ramble through a range of topics, eras, and regional styles, hitting both some vintage classics and some currently performing blues bands from around his home in Columbus, Ohio.
Melanie has been active in her home swing club at Ball State for a few years and quickly discovered her love for blues. Drawn to dancing because of the music, she knew that Djing was the direction for her. She hopes to keep the floor moving all night long and is excited to share her sets for the first time in St. Louis!
Marquise Knox
John Brannon pulls inspiration from grit and harder parts of life. John kicked-off his blues dancing in Montreal in 2014, and has been DJing blues for about a year in Nashville. John aims to help dancers travel through different blues styles, while sampling from different time periods. His appreciation for past artists shines in his sets as he enjoys digging up songs of the past; he works to bring together music from the past to highlight where modern musicians are taking the music
John Brannon
los angeles, CA
Nashville, TN
Chicago, IL
Muncie, IN
Columbus, OH
Nashville, TN
Born St. Louis, Marquise hails from a musical family deeply rooted in the Blues. He learned how to play guitar from his grandmother Lillie. He also played with his uncle Clifford, who was a major influence in Marquise's life. For Marquise, Blues is his heritage and way of life. He spent his early teenage years in St. Louis mentoring under the late great Blues legend, N.E.A. (National Endowment of the Arts) Heritage Fellowship recipient and Grammy Award winner Henry James Townsend. Marquise's talents have earned him performing rights with some of America’s most notable blues performers such as blues legends B.B. King, Pinetop Perkins and David “Honeyboy” Edwards (the latter two also N.E.A. Heritage Fellows). He has also performed at dozens of festivals, and has toured all throughout Europe.
