ATLRetro

A big part of ATLRetro’s mission is to make sure that you know about all the cool vintage-inspired activities happening in Atlanta. But equally important to us is providing a place where history can be preserved, including the impact of the talented people no longer with us but without whom this vibrant entertainment scene might not be so rich today. Both of these goals intersect in Blue Waltz: A Benefit for the Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Disorder for two nights, Fri. Aug. 19 and Sat. Aug. 20 at Smith’s Olde Bar, when The Last Waltz Ensemble will headline accompanied by an amazing roster of the city’s finest blues and rock musicians taking the stage to celebrate the life of a blues prodigy tragically cut short and raise money to help others with a serious condition.

ATLRetro asked three of the performers to share a few words about Sean Costello, and we’ll be running one of these tributes every day between now and Friday. First up is pianist and harmonica player Dr. Paul Linden, who played with Sean from 1995 to 2002, opening for such greats as BB King, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Delbert McClinton and Bonnie Raitt. He currently tours with Big Al and the Heavyweights, a contemporary blues, zydeco and rock n roll band out of Louisiana, and is an assistant professor in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Recording Industry Program.

Sean Costello’s legacy hangs over the Atlanta music scene in a loving embrace, bringing together young and old, black and white, traditional and contemporary music lovers in the same way his music did. Sean’s live performance came to a premature conclusion in the late winter of 2008, but in the 15 years that preceded that, friends, family and fellow musicians were treated to an astonishing artistic development.

His early years (from about 11-14 yrs old) were spent in the shed, playing along to traditional blues and jazz albums and sitting in with local blues players. He exploded onto the national scene in 1995 winning the international blues competition for solo acoustic act – a victory that garnered him his first record deal producing CALL THE COPS, a Memphis-based management deal and tour dates from the Mississippi Delta through the Florida panhandle. Sean expanded his horizons teaming up with New-Englander Susan Tedeschi at the Springing the Blues Fest in Jacksonville, FL. The dates became more plentiful, the rooms larger and cities further apart.

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