lucky peterson

Bluesman Lucky Peterson and his wife, singer Tamara Peterson, were home for nearly four weeks in September and October.

“This is the longest we’ve had off in two years,” Tamara says during an interview at their church, Faith Memorial.

It wasn’t exactly a restful vacation. During that month, they hosted a barbecue, a crawfish boil and then a Batman birthday party for their 4-year-old godson at their South Dallas home.

A Buffalo, N.Y., native, Peterson, 47, is the son of a blues player. And he has been performing the blues since he was 5 years old. He moved to Dallas 25 years ago to play with Bobby “Blue” Bland, and he’s been on the road ever since.

Before the end of this year, Lucky and Tamara will play shows in Germany, Switzerland, France, Israel, Canada, New York and Chicago. Playing and traveling is their life’s work. But in the past five years or so, family and church have taken center stage for Lucky Peterson.

His 2010 album, “You Can Always Turn Around,” includes a cover of Gil Scott-Heron’s “I’m New Here.” On the track, Peterson’s voice sheds some of that signature raspy wail in favor of a smoother, sweeter sound: “No matter how far wrong you’ve gone, you can always turn around.”

“I was getting a handle on a lot of things,” he says of his inspiration for the album.

The Petersons joined Faith Memorial about five years ago, after Lucky was asked to play during a service there.

“I liked what I was seeing,” he says of the church. “So we joined, and we’re family now.”

The Petersons have four children, including daughter Lucky, who attends Greiner middle school and also is a singer. Tamara homeschooled the kids for years, and the whole family would go on the road together. But she says she stayed home from touring for a few years so her son, who was in high school at the time, could attend school. But now she’s back at it.

Their favorite place to visit is France, she says.

“Paris is like a home away from home for us now,” she says.

Peterson occasionally plays in blues clubs around Dallas, but he enjoys a much bigger following overseas.

“I have a bigger following everywhere but Dallas,” he says.