The youngest ever blues performer to score a chart hit, Lucky Peterson was just five when he made his first record, ‘1-2-3-4’. That was back in 1969. Produced by Chicago blues legend Willie Dixon, it gained him instant fame, even landing him on the Ed Sullivan Show. A child prodigy - he plays organ and guitar as well as singing - he grew up steeped in the blues.

“My father had a blues club called The Governor’s Inn in Buffalo, New York, where I grew up. I actually started out on drums and from there I went to the Hammond B3 organ and then onto the guitar. All the blues guys came by to play in the club and I got to know them all. Willie Dixon and my father were really good friends and he came in and saw me playing, so that’s how it all started. I didn’t know what I was doing at that age but when I look back at those old TV clips I think, ‘Wow - was that me?’"
In his teens he attended the prestigious Buffalo Academy of Performing Arts before joining the touring groups of Etta James and Otis Rush. He went on to perform and record with some of the most illustrious names in blues and Gospel, including Albert Collins, BB King, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Little Milton and Mavis Staples. Known these days for his searing guitar style, dense organ-playing and rich authentic vocals, he says it took him a while to find his own musical voice.
“I was influenced by everyone in the early days but once I got to be 22 or 23 I started developing my own sound and my own feeling. And once I hit 40, man, it’s a whole different thing. And now that I’m 50 I don’t even feel I have to rehearse anymore.”
His current album, The Son Of A Blues Man, encompasses his love for a range of styles.
“It’s got all of my influences and it’s really talking about my own life and the fact that I didn’t choose the blues – the blues chose me,” he smiles. “I owe it all to God anyway. It’s a gift from him and I just gotta do it.”
On the road most of the year, he's now among the most in-demand players around, especially at blues festivals in Europe. He makes his first visit to Ireland in March.
“It’s my thing playing live,” he enthuses. “The blues doesn’t have to be fashionable or to have a record out – there’s always people out there who want to hear it played. I was doing about 220 shows a year at one point but I’m down to about 160 now.
“As well as my own stuff I do some Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed and Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson in the show. I don’t have a set-list and I might even stop in the middle of a song and go where the audience wants to go.”