SPOTLIGHT: Sisterblues and the Blue Suede Dyke Band
Increasingly finding the strength to bring together different strands of her life as a Mexicana-Chicana, a feminist, and a lesbian, Diana Solís proposed at a Festival organizing meeting to invite Sisterblues and the Blue Suede Dyke Band, a lesbian group that she thought was very good, to play at the Festival. As she recalls, “no one batted an eyelash” at her suggestion, so they performed “music that speaks to the struggles and the strengths of women, (particularly lesbians) surviving in an urban environment” (Sisterblues and the Blue Suede Dyke Band, 1978?).
Playing blues, rock, and jazz in a city with an especially strong blues tradition, this interracial band of Black and White musicians would also perform at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival that August. Vocalist and percussionist Alison Clark appears in Festival photos. The other band members were Mary Pelc, Lindsay Elam, and Holly Jones.
The 45 rpm record was self-produced under the name of “B.D. Women Productions,” paying tribute to Lucille Bogan’s 1935 recording of “B.D. Woman’s Blues.” B.D. stood for bulldagger or bulldyking, and the song illuminates the history of Black women-loving women that long predated U.S. lesbian feminism of the 1970s. It was recorded at Jerry Soto's Soto Sound Studio, which recorded Chicago musicians including blues legend Buddy Guy.
You can hear these rare recordings of this band on the Queer Music Heritage website.
You can hear Bogan’s B.D. Woman’s Blues (released under the pseudonym of Bessie Jackson) and read the lyrics (including “B.D. women, they ain't going to need no men).”
SOURCES
Doyle, JD. “Sisterblues & the Blue Suede Dyke Band.” Lesbian Music Obscurities January 2020, https://www.queermusicheritage.com/sep2013.html
Sisterblues and the Blue Suede Dyke Band. What Goes Around Comes Around/Sister Blues, B.D. Women Productions, 1978?, 7” vinyl.