When he was 9 years old, Derek Peterson begged his mother for a guitar and lessons. After much pleading, Derek got what he wanted. When the time came for the first lesson, Derek ran and refused to get in the car. He kept the guitar.
On a hot summer night in a neighborhood bar in the District of Columbia in 1990 Derek Peterson took the stage as a member of a band called Kidd Pharaoh and the No Goods. The band built up a nice following with Peterson on harmony vocals and rhythm guitar but really took off when the Pharaohs traded
in the mean streets of D.C for the confines of Denver and decided to have Derek front the band. During his Denver years, Peterson established Kidd Pharaoh as THE live act to see.
When Kidd Pharaoh broke up, Derek moved to Austin, TX and quickly established himself as a quality musician, playing multiple instruments with over a dozen different bands. Derek Peterson is a great sideman, he’s got taste, he’s got the look, and he’s got the chops but where he really shines is when he is the
focus of the stage.
In his long career, Derek has recorded and played with Joe Clay, Gene Summers, Shaun Young, The Horton Brothers, Dave Biller, Chris Miller, Lisa Pankratz, The Jive Bombers, The Casey Sisters, The Big Town Swingtet, Willie Lewis, The Jinn’s and Kidd Pharaoh. He was featured at the 1992 American Music Festival with The Neville Brothers and Bodeans. He’s opened for The Reverend Horton Heat, High Noon, Big Sandy and his Flyrite Boys, Chuck Berry and the Paladins to name a few.
If you judged Derek solely on his musical resume you’d see a huge contribution to the world of roots music but you’d be missing the best part. Derek is first and foremost a LIVE player. The thing about Derek is that he has a charisma that is
equal parts charm and danger and this quality makes for some unbelievable performances.
In his early career, Derek used youthful exuberance and a flair for gymnastic back flips off any stage, but as time progressed and Derek honed his craft, he developed a soulful voice and a calm confidence to compliment his killer dance moves and athletic ability. Over the years many have tried to describe what it’s like to see Derek Peterson live. Only once when Derek opened for the legend Chuck Berry did a reporter from the Rocky Mountain News ever get close to accurately describing what he saw: “The front man from Kidd Pharaoh took over the stage with such charisma and style that he actually out did Chuck Berry at the very game that Berry invented.â€
Time has passed since that storied show in Denver and with each passing year Derek becomes more watchable, more enjoyable and more entertaining.
