James Peterson

US blues guitarist born November 4, 1937 in Russell County, Alabama. He got to know the blues early on in life while working at his father's juke joint. He took up the guitar after leaving home, and became a club owner himself in 1965, opening the Governor's Inn House of Blues in Buffalo, N.Y. (Over the years Peterson ran several other clubs including the Inn after Dark in St. Petersburg, Florida, One Stop Inn in Tampa, the New Governor’s Inn in Buffalo and Club 49 in Eufaula, Alabama). He recorded his first album with his son, Judge Kenneth Lucky Peterson, in 1972. "The Father, The Son, The Blues" was released on the Today Records label. Peterson relocated to Florida in 1980 and released his second LP in 1981 ("Tryin' To Keep The Blues Alive"). His intermittent career as a recording artist began again with "Rough and Ready" and "Too Many Knots" for the Kingsnake and Ichiban labels in 1990 and 1991, respectively. Next he was signed by Malaco Records' sister label Waldoxy for 1995's "Don't Let the Devil Ride" followed by "Preachin' The Blues" in 1996. On his own he released the obscure "Wrong Bed!" on his own HownDog imprint in 1998. 2004 saw Peterson record another duo album with son Lucky, 2004's "If You Can't Fix It" on the JSP label. Peterson returned to Alabama in the mid-2000s, and died of a heart attack there on December 12, 2010.