Lucky Peterson was lucky to be born into a musical family. His dad, James Peterson, owned the Governor’s Inn, a popular Buffalo, New York blues nightclub that booked the biggies: Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Bill Doggett. The latter’s mighty Hammond B-3 organ fascinated the four-and-a-half-year-old lad, and soon Peterson was on his way under Dixon’s tutelage. “1-2-3-4” got Peterson on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, but he didn’t rest on his laurels — he was doubling on guitar at age eight, and at 17, he signed on as Little Milton’s keyboardist for three years.

LUCKY PETERSON

Lucky Peterson was lucky to be born into a musical family. His dad, James Peterson, owned the Governor’s Inn, a popular Buffalo, New York blues nightclub that booked the biggies: Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, Bill Doggett. The latter’s mighty Hammond B-3 organ fascinated the four-and-a-half-year-old lad, and soon Peterson was on his way under Dixon’s tutelage. “1-2-3-4” got Peterson on The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, but he didn’t rest on his laurels — he was doubling on guitar at age eight, and at 17, he signed on as Little Milton’s keyboardist for three years.