When Blue Stars Turn to Gold Tribute To Military Families Sacrifices

RIVERSIDE: Vet's song about military families takes flight
Press Enterprise
Mark Muckenfuss
Staff Writer
November 6, 2014

Blue Stars Turned Gold
Ted Peterson isn’t sure if he’ll be sick or if he’ll shine.

On Thursday, the Riverside resident and fledgling songwriter will be sitting on a White House panel that includes country singer Willie Nelson and hip-hop artist Common. Hosted by Michelle Obama, the group will discuss the role of music in the military.

“I’m ready to vomit I’m so nervous,” said Peterson, 44. “If it was up to me, I would not be up there on that stage.”

He’s on the stage because he wrote “When Blue Stars Turn to Gold,” a country-oriented song about the sacrifice of military families. The song caught some fire on YouTube recently and grabbed the attention of the panel’s organizers. It’s the first song he has composed in his short writing career that has been recorded.

Peterson, who is connected with the Guitars For Vets music therapy group at Loma Linda’s VA Medical Center, doesn’t even play a musical instrument. He came to songwriting in a roundabout way.

A Navy veteran with active duty from 1989-1993 and later the reserves, from 2002-2007, Peterson also worked for 15 years for Camp Pendleton’s base security. Some long-term physical problems caught up with him and he was forced to leave his security job. He had no idea what to do with his life.

“I hit a depression, a pretty bad one,” said Peterson, 44, of Riverside. “A Vietnam veteran who’s a friend of mine pulled me aside and said, ‘What’s going on with you?’ He made me promise that I would go and talk to someone. So I did.”

It may have been the best advice he ever received.
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