SEAN COSTELLO Source: Charlotte Blues Society Date: 04/2008 Writer: n/a

Sean Costello

April 16, 1979 – April 15, 2008

Blues artist Sean Costello died in Atlanta on April 15, one day shy of his 29th birthday. The cause of death was not reported. Costello had been on the road in recent weeks and had numerous concert dates scheduled in the U.S. and abroad.

Over the last dozen years, Sean Costello has become one of the most exciting singer-songwriters and guitarists on the blues scene, putting a deeply personal imprint on classic soul, blues, and roots rock sounds. Sean Costello was unshakably grounded in tradition, even as he brought the music into the future, just as his soul heroes of the 1960s and 1970s did.

His record label, Delta Groove, stated, “Losing someone as young, vibrant, and talented as Sean, who had accomplished so much in just a few short years and still had so much potential, is a terribly difficult blow … He had been unanimously praised as one of the main torch-bearers of the Blues flame for the coming generations, and now that potential will go sadly unfulfilled.”

(Contact BB&T to donate to the Sean Costello Foundation for Bi-Polar Research – tray@bbandt.com or 678-384-0063)

Remembering Sean Costello

by Bill Montgomery

April 16, 2008

I rode with Sean Costello over to Rick Ballew's radio show with Jim Jervis. One thing I noticed was Sean Costello was a fun person. He did not jump on his cell phone and talk to his friends, he had great manners, and seemed to enjoy our company and treated us like friends. We got to Rick's station and it took us a minute to get in the building. Sean pulled out his acoustic guitar, Rick introduced him, and Sean began to play amazingly. As soon as he began to sing, it was very obvious Sean Costello would be a VOICE of the Blues. The man could sing his ass off. He sang with such emotion, passion, and power. After each great Blues tune, Rick would ask a question and then ask what was coming up. Sean got ready to play his third song and explained that the next song he was going to play was one of the first songs he had ever learned. He then began a blistering version of Matchbox Blues. Sean was in the middle of the third verse, and an intern at the radio station opened the door to the studio just as Sean was singing the line, "the darker the berry, the sweeter the juice." Naturally, she was an attractive young black woman. She handled the surprise of this in a very classy manner and pretended not to notice the line in the song.

Jervis looked shocked. Rick just smiled big, and I found this funny and put my hand up to my mouth to keep from laughing on the air. Sean looked up and just kept on digging. After our visit with Rick, we got back in the car and all busted out laughing at the funny coincidence of her walking in at just that moment. Please understand, this was simply a funny coincidence. Sean's attitude was more of an "oh well" – it happened and it was funny. We rode back to The Double Door Inn to watch Sean play, and as we all got out of the car, I felt like I had made a friend. Today, I feel like I have lost one. After the show, Sean saw me as I was leaving and yelled “Good Night”… it certainly had been one.