Lisa Mann took home the Sean Costello Rising Star Award at the Blues Blast Awards on Thursday, Oct 23rd. Lisa was a featured performer at the awards show, held at the Fluid Events center in Champaign, IL, backed by the talents of Andy T and Nick Nixon’s band. Many fine nominees performed at the gala event, including blues royalty Bobby Rush, Shaun Murphy, Albert Castiglia, and Trudy Lynn.

The award was named for guitar and vocal genius Sean Costello, who sadly passed away just before his 29th birthday. He suffered from bipolar disorder, and may have died as a result of trying to self-medicate to alleviate his symptoms. His mother Debbie Costello Smith and stepfather Glenn Smith have created the Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research. For more information, please visit: http://seancostellofund.org/

All award winners are listed here: http://www.bluesblastmagazine.com/and-the-winners-are/

Stacy Jeffress writes for American Blues Scene:

Portland’s Lisa Mann, vocalist, composer, and 6-string bass virtuoso, has never been reticent to share her personal triumphs and tragedies through her music. It’s no surprise, then, that the title cut of her new CD Move On was inspired by the resolve she needed to overcome the loss of her mother and, in short order, the loss of her voice. “I’ve got the philosophy you don’t forget your past, but you need to move forward,” Mann said. “That’s why I chose it as the first tune for the record.”

Mann believes that the stress of her mother’s lengthy illness played a big part in the loss of her voice for six months. During that difficult time, Mann made the best of a bad situation by inviting area singers to be her voice for her shows. There must be something in the water in Portland that produces notable musicians, because Mann had an excellent crop from which to choose, particularly Rae Gordon who is a bandleader in her own right and who participated in this year’s International Blues Challenge in Memphis.

Throughout Mann’s career, though, she has created a sense of community in her work. Many of her recorded songs and live performance includes guest appearances from the best artists that the City of Roses has to offer – Mitch Kashmar, Lloyd Jones, Karen Lovely – and Move On is no different which includes performances by Sonny Hess, LaRhonda Steele, and Arietta Ward.

“There is something about Portland and the blues musicians here who really get it. I don’t know how else to describe it. When you go to Vancouver, just north of Portland, they say you’ve crossed from the shuffle side of the river. They call Portland the shuffle side of the river,” Mann explains. “We have musicians like Lloyd Jones, Curtis Salgado, and the late Paul Delay. Mitch Kashmar and Kevin Selfe moved here specifically because of the strength of the blues scene. The Insomniacs hailed from Portland. Fiona Boyes moved here for awhile. The university in Eugene had some concerts where they brought in acts like Muddy Waters and Koko Taylor so young guys like Lloyd Jones, Paul Delay, and Dover Weinberg saw the real deal. They were influenced by these Chicago blues musicians. A lot of them ended up moving to Portland.”

CLICK THIS LINK for the full story:
http://www.americanbluesscene.com/2014/06/portland-blues-sensation-lisa-mann-explains-why-she-had-to-move-on/