2013 PERFORMERS
Glenn and Alex Peterson have only been playing guitar for three years, but you’d never know it if you saw them on stage at Antone’s, Saxon Pub or the Victory Grill, Glenn bending his six strings with emotional ferocity and Alex slapping his bass like a young Victor Wooten. The boys channel the blues with a maturity and technical prowess well beyond their years. Glenn and Alex, who are 14 and 11, started on piano, but soon decided to try other instruments. Glenn selected guitar, while Alex played drums before switching to violin and bass. Alex proved remarkably adept at other instruments too—he plays saxophone in the Bastrop Intermediate School band. The boys also sing and write original songs. Deanna Peterson recalls a time when her youngest son walked into a music shop and asked if he could play the balalaika behind the counter. “The owner asked if he knew how to play it, and Alex said he could probably figure it out. Within minutes he had tuned it and was playing ‘Amazing Grace.’” The boys play together in the school jazz band as well, and Glenn has recently started taking vocal lessons to enhance his singing on songs like the folk-blues standard “Sittin’ on Top of the World.” The boys’ musical influences also belie their years. They discovered B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Stevie Ray Vaughan around the house, and soon began exploring the vast historical underground that is the blues. It wasn’t long before they were spending every moment of free time jamming together in their music room. “It comes naturally to us,” says Glenn. “We just seem to know and feel what the other is thinking.” In spite of such early success, the boys have remained humble, which is a credit to the tight-knit Peterson family ethos. They teach music lessons free of charge, rarely talk about their music at school, and always finish their homework before heading to their music room. “But then,” Mrs. Peterson says with a chuckle—“they don’t come out for hours.” - Phillip Pantuso Tribeza - 2/28/2011
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