Abigail Washburn
Al Green
Asleep at the Wheel
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
Bettye LaVette
Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Buckwheat Zydeco
Buddy Guy
Charlie Musselwhite
Chatham County Line
Cherryholmes
Chris Hillman & Herb Pedersen
Chris Smither
The Del McCoury Band
Delbert McClinton
Dr. John
Heartless Bastards
Hot Rize
Jerry Douglas
John Hammond
John Hiatt
Junior Brown
Loudon Wainwright III
Marcia Ball
Medeski, Martin & Wood
Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas
Old Crow Medicine Show
Ollabelle
Over the Rhine
Peter Rowan
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Rhett Miller & The Believers
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
Rodney Crowell
Rosanne Cash
Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles
Sean Costello
Sonny Landreth
Sonya Kitchell
Tea Leaf Green
Teresa James & The Rhythm Tramps
Tift Merritt
Tim O'Brien
Tony Rice
Wilco
Yerba Buena
Many More Local Artists



Hot Rise

Sean Costello was born in Philadelphia in 1979 and picked up a guitar not long after. By 14 he had won the Memphis Blues Society's talent award, and was already on the road with his own band. In 1996, the 17 year-old Costello released his first album, Call The Cops . Real Blues Magazine called the release "an explosive debut."

In 2000, when he released Cuttin' In , Costello wasn't even 20 years old and he already had a gold record on his wall. Cuttin' In earned him a slew of critical acclaim as well as a prestigious W. C. Handy Award nomination for "Best New Artist Debut." The album received a four and a half star review from the AllMusicGuide and Blues Revue Magazine exclaimed, "Sean Costello blows in like a gust of fresh spring air!" LA Weekly praised the guitar player by stating that, "Costello [was] the real deal!"

Besides performing the works of others, Costello offers up seven of his own remarkable compositions on Cuttin’ In including the album's first single, "No Half Steppin." The song takes the feel of a blues shuffle and a traditional blues guitar rhythm and mixes it up with pop influences and a gritty soul-stirring vocal, proving Costello is too seasoned to be written off as just another blues guitar prodigy.

With 2002's Moanin'For Molasses came a Blues Revue cover story touting Costello as "the top contender to be the next blues star... and soon." Costello's hometown paper The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called his guitar playing "masterful" and of "remarkable maturity." The paper also compared him to such legends as B. B. King, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. He has already shared stages with B.B. King, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, and Bo Diddley to name a few.

The new self-titled album, Sean Costello , produced by Steve Rosenthal (The Rolling Stones, Suzanne Vega, Freedy Johnston). It is the guitarist's fourth release and by far his most diverse and spectacular. The album finds Costello shifting gears from Chicago blues to a crafty mixture of soul, funk, upbeat rock and his native blues. Costello is joined by his touring band as well as a few special guests. Levon Helm of The Band sits in on two tracks, as does his daughter, Amy Helm, of Ollabelle. Steve Jordan, Willie Weeks and the Conan O'Brien horn section contribute also.

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