Bluesman Lucky Peterson back from the brink of destruction

Bluesman Lucky Peterson back from the brink of destruction
October 7, 2010
By MARIO TARRADELL
Dallas News

Living a gut-bucket blues song, Lucky Peterson stepped into the fire, got scorched by the flames, found his healing salve and lived to sing about it.

[Click image for a larger version] RON BASELICE/DMN
RON BASELICE/DMN
Bluesman Lucky Peterson credits his wife of 13 years, Tamara, for helping turn his life around.

Or as the Dallas-based Peterson would say, "you can always turn around." Those words are the prophetic title of his comeback CD. On the passionate, acoustic blues record, the 46-year-old bluesman bravely interprets tunes by Robert Johnson, Ray LaMontagne, Tom Waits , Lucinda Williams , Curtis Mayfield and Blind Willie McTell.

The 11-track disc, recorded in Woodstock, N.Y., commemorates Peterson's survival and happiness. This is a man who overcame drug addiction, a lost childhood, failed relationships and the death of his mother to emerge a victorious artist with a loving marriage, healthy children and a cozy home in a quiet Dallas neighborhood.

"The music is to let people know and myself know that no matter how far down you've gone, you can always turn around," Peterson said from his living room. "No matter your situation, it can change. All you have to do is be willing to change it."

Peterson credits his wife of 13 years, Tamara Peterson, for helping him turn the train. He'll tell you that Tamara saved him. That's why he was drawn to LaMontagne's "Trouble," a song on You Can Always Turn Around.

"In the song he was saved by a woman," Peterson said. "There's no telling where I might have ended up or what I'd be doing right about now. I was really heavy into drugs, sleeping on the streets ... I got somebody who's with me for who I am, not for what I do."

Peterson was a child prodigy on the keyboards, discovered by legendary blues musician Willie Dixon when he was 3. Two years later, Peterson had recorded his first album, which included the single "1-2-3-4." That song landed him on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson.

"It was a good thing and a bad thing," Peterson said. "The good thing about it was God had planned for me to know what I'm going to do for the rest of my life. The bad thing about it was I didn't have a childhood. But guess what? I'm not going to complain. This is what God put in my life and in my veins and in my blood for me to do. There was a purpose for me to be here."

Yet this child phenomenon soaked up drugs and alcohol in nightclubs performing with Little Milton , Bobby "Blue" Bland and Kenny Neal. He wallowed in crack, cocaine, marijuana and booze. When his mother died in 1997, Peterson hit rock bottom. His career derailed.

Peterson doesn't know how long he's been clean.

"I don't keep a count on it," he said. "But I'm clean. And I'm cool. My music has picked back up. There's interest in me again. I'm going to Europe. I'm still going to church. I don't want to keep no time limit on it."

Singing a gut-bucket blues song is a joyous occasion; blues music is about everyday life, Peterson will tell you.

"Just because it's the blues doesn't mean you got to lay down and die. Blues is uplifting music."