Bluehouse music

Among the things the women of Bluehouse did on their recent tour of the US: watched former figure-skater turned hitman-hirer Tonya Harding get knocked out in a professional boxing match. In the carpark of a strip club.

Apparently the famous wicked woman of ice skating took a fall in about 90 seconds. The Bluehouse, who had ringside seats, headed into the strip club for the rest of the night.

Jacqui Walter, Samantha Harley and Bernadette Carroll are famous folk-singing dykes with a huge North American following.

We have a feeling she knocked herself out to get out of the ring, Walter says.

She came out with the theme music -“ it might have been Gangster’s Paradise. She had her head down, her hands on her minders. It was one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen.

The trio have just finished a recent coast-to-coast journey in a bought yellow cab -“ which they managed to get their gear and themselves into for the festival season.

[Our American fans] are mostly music festival people, and their festivals are massive. It varies from mums and dads and kids to grandparents -“ it’s an amazing cross-section of people, Walter says.

And of course in America lesbians are more than happy to go to straight folk festivals. In terms of the attitude towards sexuality it’s certainly not an issue. And it’s fantastic to go and tour in a country where you don’t make any secret that you’re out -“ and it’s obvious that we are -“ and get that level of respect from a predominantly straight audience.

They’ve got some people who have paved the way before us, obviously Melissa Etheridge and k.d. lang -“ even though they were fairly closed off about their sexuality in the early days, they’ve certainly paved the way for it to not be a problem in the music world over there.

Bluehouse are in a brief Australian touring window before heading back overseas. In January and February they are supporting Ani Di Franco at the indoor Ann Arbor Folk Festival and touring with Tommy Emmanuel across the US. The band is also negotiating with Dixie Chicks producer Lloyd Maines about the release of their third album.

The Bluehouse will play four shows in Katoomba and Sydney in December -“ two in Katoomba, one in the Basement and one in the Famous Spiegeltent. They’re Spiegeltent veterans, having played in the Tardis-like tent in Edinburgh, Adelaide and Melbourne.

We’re playing for an hour in the Spiegeltent -“ we have to make way for Marcia Hines. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be the next Australian Idols.

Bluehouse are performing at The Basement on Wednesday 3 December and at the Famous Spiegeltent in the Domain on Wednesday 17 December.