April 19, 2019 | UHCL Staff
The very first song Glenn and Alex Peterson learned to play together when they were children was “Amazing Grace.” Alex, who was about 9 at the time, played violin and his then-11-year-old brother played guitar. Almost immediately, they both realized this was “it” for them, and now, the Peterson Brothers have become fixtures on Austin’s indie music scene and are bringing their blend of blues, funk, jazz and rhythm and blues to the University of Houston-Clear Lake's Bayou Theater on Friday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m.
Since Alex, now 20, and Glenn Jr., now 22, graduated from Bastrop High School, they are committed to making music full-time. “Our first live performance as the Peterson Brothers was in Austin when we sat in with (noted blues pianist) Pinetop Perkins at Nuno’s Bar on Sixth Street,” said Alex. “Our mom is our manager and she reached out to his manager. We got to sit in and play, and that was our first time to perform.”
Sitting in with Perkins, said Glenn Jr., taught them the proper etiquette of being on stage, playing rhythm and supporting the song. “Even if you’re having a solo, you can’t have two people playing over each other, you have to go back and forth,” he said. “We learned how to play in a group.”
Both brothers are self-taught musicians and are always working to learn a new instrument and to continue writing new music. “We never had a solid music teacher,” Glenn Jr. said. “We just go to jam sessions with other musicians and we ask a lot of questions. It’s a lot of self-teaching and listening and watching. Ever since I was about 11, this was our ‘video game.’ Music is what kept my brother and me sitting down and interested for hours,” he said. “Other kids were playing video games and we were playing music.”
These days, the Peterson Brothers have a standing-room-only weekly residency at Austin’s famed Continental Club. “It’s weird to think we have a fan base now,” Glenn Jr. said. “We just like to get on stage and have fun and express ourselves. We are super appreciative of everyone who comes out to our shows.”
The brothers said their intent when they perform was to make their audience feel their positive energy. “We always try to do songs everyone can enjoy,” said Alex. “One song we always do is ‘Amazing Grace,’ as an instrumental led by violin. But all artists are fair game for us to cover, and because we listen to the same music, anything can go. It’s cool not to be in a box. You might hear a melody you recognize in the middle of some other song. There are no limitations, we just get up and play what we feel and have fun.”
