Sean’s Blues
Written by Greg Johnson Wednesday, 21 October 2009 19:31
Sean Costello
Landslide Records
Without doubt, I would have to say one of the hardest hits to modern blues in the past couple of years had to be the premature death of Sean Costello. A young man starting to break out on to a larger scale of recognition for his incredible talents, yet haunted by his own personal demons brought on by his bi-polar condition, something that only a handful of people were knowledgable of (rightfully so as a private issue) until his passing.
Sean Costello had broken into awareness for many when he won the Beale Street Blues Society’s blues talent contest in 1994, which allowed him to compete in the International Blues Challenge at the age of 15. He turned a lot of heads, including another competitor by the name of Susan Tedeschi who later hired Sean and his band to back her. That partnership found Sean playing lead guitar on the mega-hit album Just Won’t Burn by Tedeschi in 1997. Before that epic album, Sean recorded his first solo project for the Landslide label when he was 16. His debut was titled Call The Cops, with exceptional guitar work and songwriting by the young prodigy.
Costello went on to release a trio of albums for Landslide (the other two being Cuttin’ In and Moanin’ For Molasses), that featured his core band of drummer Terrence Prather, Melvin Zachary on bass and harp player Paul Linden. This new release from Landslide, Sean’s Blues, offers tracks from all three and is not only a testament to Sean’s skills, but offer nice recognition to the band as well, especially Linden’s harmonica playing.
Not simply just a greatest hits package, Sean’s Blues also collects twelve tracks previously unreleased. These are incredible numbers, including a trio of live pieces from a couple shows in Chicago and Marquette, Michigan, highlighted by a burning take of Otis Rush’s “All Your Love (I Miss Loving).” Other outstanding selections heard here for the first time include Robert Johnson’s “Walking Blues” with vocals from Susan Tedeschi, which along with her playing rhythm guitar on Bob Wills’ “Big Beaver” is a fine sampling of how well they worked together. Two more CDs followed, picked up by larger labels, the self-titled Sean Costello on Tone Cool and his final release We Can Get Together from Delta Groove. This disc closes with two numbers that were later re-recorded for those labels, heard here in their original form, “Feel Like I Ain’t Got A Home” and “She Changed My Mind,” a harbinger for the highly polished soulful vocals he became known for alongside his guitar playing.
For anybody who was mesmerized by Sean Costello’s brilliance as a musician and performer, Sean’s Blues is indispensable. For anybody else, you’ll more than likely become a fan once you hear this. It is without question a nice overview of an exceptional artist gone too soon.
Total Time: 75:31
Take Me Back / Sail On / Call The Cops / Lovin’ Machine / The Plumber / Tell Me Baby / Big Beaver / Mellow Chick Swing / Walking Blues / Double Trouble / Who’s Been Cheatin’ Who / All Your Love (I Miss Loving) / Mojo Boogie / Motor Head Baby / Don’t Be Reckless With My Heart / Your Love Is Amazing / It Takes Time / You Don’t Know What Love Is / Feel Like I Ain’t Got A Home / She Changed My Mind