My First Night as a DJ in Branson, MO
- Chris L. Grant
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
It was 7pm, and I was early on purpose. I wanted to make sure that I had enough to eat, and enough time to set up my gear, so I’d be able to relax and settle in for a bit, before the actual show started. This wasn’t karaoke at a small town bar anymore. This was the closest thing Branson had to a nightclub, and I wanted to make a great impression.
I’d managed to get a night at this venue, because a DJ they’d been using often, had recommended me to management. This DJ was moving to Arizona to be closer to his family, which left management with some big shoes to fill. I’d been spinning at different places for a while, but had not yet fully been entrusted with a crowd like the one this venue attracted. I’d worked my ass off for this opportunity, and the only person who could screw it up for me at that time was me.
Loading in my equipment at this place was a job in itself. I had to go up several stairs, and maneuver around a bunch of tables, to get my gear up to the “party deck”. The party deck was the upstairs portion of a well known bar that was right on 76 Country Boulevard. This property has quite the history in Branson, and even offered its patrons bungee jumping in the 90’s. Once my gear was set up, I felt better. I was anxious, but I was also prepared.
At around 8:30 or so, people started coming up the stairs to the party deck. I read the room, looking for context clues, so I could plan my music accordingly. It was a mixed crowd of people, mostly in their 30’s, with smaller groups of younger and older patrons too. I was in my mid 30’s at the time, so I’d lived through most of the music they had, and I had studied the rest. I am an open format DJ, which means that no song is off limits, which is really the only way that DJing works in Branson, MO.
Little did I know that on my first night at this new venue, I would begin to create the template for the rest of my DJ career in Branson. I would typically start my sets with rock and country, which is what most people would assume you’d hear in Branson. I’d get the people who showed up early to start tapping their feet to one of many classic rock sure shots, and then I’d bait them with a middle of the road club hit, to see if I could get them onto the dance floor.
You may be wondering why I wouldn’t choose better songs to start with, and that’s completely fair. The short answer is that as a DJ, songs are your tools, and you want to save your best for prime time. I’m also big on not playing the same song twice in a night, unless nobody heard it the first time, or there’s a big tip involved. Starting a dance floor is like starting a fire, and those early club songs you play are the kindling for where you’ll be later on in the night. If you throw your biggest logs on the fire early, you won’t have anything good to add when it really counts.
Thankfully, I’ve always had a knack for tying on the right bait, and getting the dance floor started. I also liked to surprise the first people who got on the dance floor, with a couple of free shots from the bar. It was my way of saying thank you for making my job easy, and that I was there to have a good time. My time as a karaoke host made me a pretty decent MC, so I would always call these people out on the mic, and give them props for opening up the dance floor. Basically, if I could keep a few people in a good mood and on the dance floor, more people would follow suit.
It was getting closer to 10pm now, and the crowd was primed. I’d gotten the song Copperhead Road out of the way, so we could put more focus on the Wobble later. Say what you will about “line dances”, but these songs are money makers, dance floor fillers, and sometimes the DJ needs time to use the bathroom. I’d obviously leave these songs out of a true DJ showcase, but I would have been a fool not to exploit them in Branson, MO.
More people started arriving at the bar, and more people joined the dance floor. Pretty soon, the place was packed. I started turning up the heat with the music, transitioning more into classic 90’s hip hop, newer top 40, and some of my personal remixes and routines. I had certain routines I would use a lot. For those who don’t know, a routine is where a DJ mixes a certain set of songs together, in a certain way and the arrangement is attributed to the DJ. Good routines are well thought out, meticulous, and they flow together seamlessly.
The crowd was a blend of what I’d later find out to be the core party crowd in Branson, and tourists. It wasn’t uncommon to see a guy wearing a cowboy hat at one table, and a guy wearing an Adidas tracksuit a few feet away. One might assume that a night out in Branson is the equivalent of seeing a bunch of white people do the Cotton Eye Joe, but in reality, Branson invites one of the most diverse crowds I’ve ever worked with.
On this night, I busted out what I call my King of Rock routine. It was the first routine I really sat down and came up with as a turntablist, and I was proud of it. It started out at 97 beats per minute, and wound up at 104BPM. It was the perfect way to let people know that I didn’t carry around those heavy turntables just for show, while increasing the tempo and getting them to move a little faster. After I got into this routine, I just went off. I weaved through all the classics, some newer stuff, and even some deep cuts for my own satisfaction. I went from 104BPM to 128, back to 70, and all the way back up again, taking detours along the way.
By prime time, my anxiety from the beginning of the night had turned into light confidence. I had control of the crowd, and it was clear that I was doing the job that management hired me to do, but could I do it again, and do it repeatedly? It was too soon to tell, I stayed locked in, and before I knew it the bartender was asking me to announce the last call for alcohol.
What a night, and I had done it. I’d seen so many of my heroes put on amazing performances at their shows, and that night was my turn. Before I left, one of the coolest bosses I’ve ever worked with came up to me and congratulated me for doing such a good job, and asked me if I would be interested in coming back to their venue. I told him that I had a great time, and that I was definitely interested in playing there again.
I did not know it at that moment, but I had just started a years long business relationship with the GM of this venue, and there would be many more gigs to come. This was one of the biggest turning points in my career as a DJ, and I am forever grateful. I walked into their venue as a stranger, and walked out with a name.