Born in North Carolina where he opened The Sidetrack Coffee House in 1964 here folk music reigned. The Heavenly Blues Band was formed in 1965 and took John to San Francisco in 1966. Photography took over but music was never very far in the background. In 1975 he moved to New York for the photographic possibilities. John played rhythm guitar for The Cool Jerks a roots rock and soul band that played
in New York clubs for the next 30 years. An enthusiasm for vintage guitars and especially tube amplifiers were abiding interest at this time. The parallel interest and persuits of photography and music reinforced each other. A natural outgrowth of this was the many collaborations producing photos for books like Richard Smith’s “Fender The Sound Heard Round the World” and Tom Wheeler’s “The Stratocaster Chronicles” and “The Soul of Tone” among others. His photographs of musicians and guitars currently appear in “Vintage Guitar Magazine”, “Guitar Player”, “Guitar World”, “Tone Quest” and “Fretboard Journal”. In 2011 his enthusiasm for classic Fender amps could no longer be contained which leads to Peden’s Vintage.
