LOGAN – Around 1985, comedian Steve Martin used to joke that Richard Nixon would still be president if only he had learned to play the banjo.

I supposed the disgraced president would have earned an equal measure of good will if he had played the mandolin, a guitar, an upright bass, a fiddle or a dobro, at least if he had played any of those instruments half as well as the members of the bluegrass family band the Petersens on Dec. 11.

Sponsored by the Cache Valley Cowboy Rendezvous, “Christmas with the Petersens” was definitely a feel-good experience for a medium-size audience of most oldsters and die-hard country-western fans at the Ellen Eccles Theatre that night.

The Petersens’ normal repertoire is a combination of music from the band’s favorite artists and familiar country tunes. But

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