James Peterson (November 4, 1937 - December 12, 2010) was an American blues guitarist and singer.
James Peterson was born in Russell County, Alabama. He was strongly influenced by gospel music in the rural area he grew up in, and he began singing in church as a child. Thanks to his father's juke joint, he was exposed to blues at an early age, and later followed in his footsteps in upstate New York. After leaving home at age 14, he headed to Gary, Indiana, where he sang with his friend John Scott. While still a teen, he began playing guitar, entirely self-taught. Peterson cited musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett), Jimmy Reed, and B.B. King as his early role models. After moving to Buffalo in 1955, he continued playing with various area blues bands.
On July 12, 1965, Peterson opened Governor’s Inn: The House of Blues in Buffalo, the first of many blues clubs he would run throughout his life. Peterson booked the big names of the day including Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Lowell Fulson, Junior Wells and many others. 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.
In 1970, he recorded his first album, The Father, the Son, the Blues on the Perception/Today label. While he ran his blues club at night, he supplemented his income by running a used-car lot during the day. Peterson's debut album was produced and co-written with Willie Dixon, and it featured a then-five-year-old Lucky Peterson on keyboards. Peterson followed it up with Tryin' to Keep the Blues Alive in 1981.
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 in 1995. His first disc, the critically acclaimed Don’t Let the Devil Ride was recorded at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with Peterson and Big Mike Griffin on guitar and includes songs from George Jackson, John Ward, Sidney Bailey and James Peterson, himself. This album put Peterson back on the road as a national touring act. His second disc for Waldoxy, Preachin’ the Blues, followed in 1996, again with Griffin on guitar but this time all ten songs were penned by Peterson.
On his own he released the obscure "Wrong Bed!" on his own HownDog imprint in 1998. Throughout the '90s and up to the mid-2000s, Peterson was also an active live presence on the Tampa, Florida blues scene. 2004 saw Peterson record another duo album with son Lucky, "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 at the age of 73. A master showman who learned from the best and knew how to work an audience, James Peterson left a legacy not only as an accomplished blues guitarist, but also as a crafty songwriter endowed with a deep, gospel-drenched singing style.
(Edited from Soul Blues Music, AllMusic & malaco.com)