Jeff Petterson

Jeff Peterson was born on the Island of Maui. He grew up on a ranch on the slopes of the Haleakala volcano where he was introduced to the rich heritage of Hawaiian music and guitar by his father, a paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy). At an early age, he began to pick up influences from such Hawai‘i slack key greats as the Gabby Pahinui Band, Leonard Kwan, and Sonny Chillingworth. During his studies of jazz and classical guitar, Jeff explored a wide variety of musical genres. Jeff has worked with a wide range of artists including Eric Clapton, James Galway, and Michael Feinstein and the award-winning George Clooney film The Descendants features five of Jeff's songs. Jeff was featured on two Grammy-winning CDs: Slack Key Guitar, Volume 2 which won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Hawaiian Recording, and in 2010, George Kahumoku’s Masters of Slack Key Guitar Vol. 2. He won 15 Na Hoku Hanohano (Hawaiian Grammy) Awards to date, including 4 Best Slack Key awards and a Grammy nomination for Maui on My Mind. His Concerto for Slack Key Guitar and Orchestra premiered in 2016 with the Raleigh Chamber Orchestra and had its Hawaii Symphony premiere in 2017.