Q&A: Beccy Cole, country music singer, 44

So many people need someone to say, ‘I’m gay and it’s ok’.

Beccy Cole - Picture: Lisa Maree Williams

You’ve just returned from New York, where you performed at the Battle of the Coral Sea commemoration for Donald Trump. How was that? I had to remain focused on the fact that I was singing for the vets and imagining what they must have been through 75 years ago. One of the fellows spent two days floating in the sea with his dead mates around him; I had to think “get over the pressure and sing the bloody song!”

The song was Poster Girl (2006), which you declined to sing for president George W. Bush in 2007… I didn’t want Poster Girl to be seen as supporting the [Iraq] war; it was for Aussie troops [written after Cole performed for them in the Middle East] and not for any political stand. I said I’d sing Waltzing Matilda or Mary Had a Little Lamb for the president but not that one, and they declined.

The US beckoned at one stage in your career. What happened? I had an offer when I was younger to go to Nashville and I knew they wanted to change me [but] for me it’s about being authentic. That was 25 years ago and I’ve done laps around the country but I’ve never pursued [a record deal]. It’s just by chance that Poster Girl went viral in the US military; Brendan Nelson, the defence minister at the time, put it online.

You grew up in Adelaide, where your mum Carole Sturtzel was a big name in country music in the ’60s and ’70s. Was your career path inevitable? It was always country music for me – I didn’t know there was any other type. Mum was an amazing performer; she still is at 73. I always wanted to be her, and I learnt a lot performing in her band.

Since then you’ve won nine Golden Guitar awards and sung with just about every famous Australian country singer. Who’s left on your bucket list? A dream would be to sing with Dolly Parton. I had 286 pictures of her on my wall as a kid. I’ve met her three times and seen her 17 times, and I’m as obsessed now as I was as a teenager.

You’re on your ninth tour with Adam Harvey, this time with an album you made together. What is it about you and Adam? His wife explains that we’re the male and female version of each other. We’ve got a lot of respect for each other and we know the most important thing is entertaining our audience, not our precious egos. Adam is also a very funny man and we often have a laugh, sometimes at my expense.

How hard was it to come out as gay in 2012? It was difficult and scary but as soon as I pressed the button there was a great sense of relief and a beautiful positive reaction. I underestimated the positivity. There are so many people like me, especially in regional Australia, and they need someone to say “I’m gay and it’s OK”. When my show comes to town they can come and know it’s a safe place for them.

What was the reaction in Adelaide, where you live with your fiancée, Libby O’Donovan, and children [Ricky, 18, and Maisy, 7]? I’ve never found any negativity and I love the city, especially at festival time. And I love my Adelaide Crows.

If you could pick any four dinner guests, who would you invite? Dolly Parton, Bette Midler, Ellen DeGeneres – and Libby, because I want her to meet Bette. And I’d have Nigella Lawson cooking in the kitchen.

The Great Country Songbook Vol. II with Beccy Cole and Adam Harvey tours nationally from May to September. beccycole.com