More about Roger Paul Peterson

IT ALL STARTED FOR ME AT AGE FOUR: 

Even yet today, I still remember Mom trying to figure out church hymns on a small electric organ in my Dad’s church (organists need to synchronize both their two hands and their two feet). And I vividly recall Mom pounding out her favorite tunes on our family’s old upright piano. I also remember pensively watching a piano tuner wrench that 88-key beast back into better tune. Then I turned five, and begged to start piano lessons before I even knew how to read. My preacher-poor Dad and Mom shelled out a hefty buck per lesson in those early days — and their investment in me paid off. I continued studying piano for another 16 years, through my third year in college.

MY PARENTS NEVER HAD TO PUSH ME TO PRACTICE:

I loved playing music and making music, and readily practiced piano nearly every day. I simply loved playing piano! (Church pipe organs and other electronic keyboards were soon to follow.)

AS A YOUNG TEEN: 

I went to a friend’s party one weekend and heard my first live rock band — I was hooked. The sound of their music engaged me. The flashing lights (all 2 or 3 of them) energized me. The entire euphonic experience captured my heart, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that music was a call on my life.

I STILL LOVE PLAYING IN BANDS!

I love making great music together with other great musicians. There’s really nothing quite like it, when we all lock in tightly together, punch the same beats together, and turn the same turns together. It’s an indescribable, wonderful joy! Currently I play most Sunday mornings in the Cornerstone Family Church worship band.

I ALSO LOVE WRITING, COMPOSING, PRODUCING AND RECORDING MUSIC!

And that’s what I do! I pray what God allows me to create will bring the same joy and happiness to your heart as it does to mine!

IN THE BEGINNING …

I grew up as a preacher’s kid primarily in the small, amicable farming community of Dayton, Iowa, where I had ready access to a wonderful baby grand piano and pipe organ at church. I spent thousands of hours playing those instruments — everything from frisky rock ’n roll to resounding church hymns. Now with 16 years of classical piano training and decades performing in live bands as a multi-keyboardist in schools, churches, colleges, bars, ballrooms and concerts, I’ve learned to play with passion and precision. As a musical composer and recording artist, I use up to eight acoustic and electronic keyboards, including midi access to more than 1,000 different instruments and sounds when recording. One of my newly developed recording skills is creating “chiptunes” — stunningly realistic computer-generated musical instruments and sounds — then programming my MacBook Pro to play those sounds into my recording software (I use GarageBand).

MY MUSICAL INFLUENCES

Much of my music is shaped by my classical training, coupled with the 1970s-80s decades of pop rock radio music, coupled yet again with the 1990s-to-date influence of Christian radio music and church worship music. Some of my music influencers include German composers J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel (“The Messiah”), African American Scott Joplin (ragtime), British multi-keyboardist Keith Emerson and Christian worship musician Michael W. Smith. My varied styles range from honky-tonk/ragtime piano to electro-techno synth, from pipe organ to country pop rock, and from progressive symphonic rock to secular, sacred, pop and worship.

MY MENTORS AND PARTNERS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY 

I’m thankful for the talent and opportunities the Lord has given me personally. Even so, I humbly recognize I never complete my music projects alone, and am so grateful for the love and support of my wife, Melanie, and our two children, Rachel and Matthew. I especially acknowledge my friends and colleagues who have mentored me and/or partnered with me, and who care deeply about what I do with my music, and how I go about doing it:

• CHRIS ATKINS — Author, recording artist, my former worship pastor in Minnesota. His prescient, well grounded music-writing classes and personal, caring feedback has greatly strengthened my songwriting abilities. 
• JODY CALDERON — Jody is a touring Music City (Nashville, Tennessee) musician — a talented guitarist & composer — and manager, currently managing a national touring group, the Jason Miller Band. Jody steers me around the pitfalls of the music industry and helps guide my overall music production with his time-tested, music-industry ear. Jody co-produced my October 2020 release, "Chris ’n Iz—A Columbus Day National Ragtime” and my November 2020 release, “Wintertime in Vienna”.
• RYAN WACZEK — Ryan is a gifted songwriter, musician and digital music industry guru. Ryan runs the Indie Music Academy where he has trained thousands of independent musicians (including me) on collecting from the complex network of music industry royalties, setting up a performing rights organization, thinking through the fan journey and a host of other present-day music industry imperatives. Ryan has been instrumental (is that a pun?) in helping develop my ecosphere of websites, social media and all the behind-the-scenes technologies needed for music promotion, communication and effectiveness. 
• DARLENE FOWLER — Darlene is president of MC1 Nashville and also manages Dark Lonesome Records and Copper Lilly Records, where some of my music appears.

IOWA ROCK ’N ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

Along with the other members of my first rock band “Mourning Glory,” I was inducted into the Iowa Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame (2016). I’ve had the opportunity and blessing to work first-hand with Kenny Rogers (1999) and Apple Records/USA Manager for “The Beatles” Ken Mansfield (2011), in addition to Christian recording artists Diana Pierce (1997–2000), Steve Green (2019), and Dick Tunney (2019, 2020); Dick, incidentally, is the swashbuckling accordion player on my Columbus Day song, “Chris ’n Iz.” 

OFFICIAL DOVE AWARD SUBMISSION 

In 2021, my record company MC1 Nashville successfully submitted “MIGHTY Your Deeds” for a Dove Award; the submission cleared the first round of voting.

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE

I was a passenger on TWA Flight 841 in April 1979, which went out of control at 39,000 feet, making two complete barrel rolls and plunging over 35,000 feet in an accelerated nose-dive before making a miraculous recovery 44 seconds later. I’ve appeared four times on NBC/CBS network television regarding this incident, including the Tom Synder Tomorrow Show in April 1979 and the CBS Reports’ 1983 Peabody Award-wining investigative documentary “The Plane That Fell From the Sky”, in which I and other actual passengers and crew portray ourselves while re-enacting this true-life, death-defying real life event. Feel free to view the entire CBS Reports’ documentary on my YouTube channel (Roger Peterson appears in “The Plane That Fell From The Sky“) or read my brief first-hand account here.

CREDENTIALS / EDUCATION

I am also a licensed minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Founder/CEO of the Christian missions nonprofit STEM Int’l (STEMPress) and a multi-published author. I earned my B.A. in Organizational Leadership (Bethel University—2009), my Mini MBA for Nonprofit Organizations (University of St. Thomas—2010) and my M.A. in Intercultural Leadership (Bethany Global University—2013). 

FAMILY

My wife Melanie and I live near Orlando, Florida; we are blessed with two young adult children, Rachel (Atlanta GA area) and Matthew (Johnson University Florida).