A blues guitarist who once shared a bandstand with a teenage Jimi Hendrix is bringing his New York/Chicago-style sound to downtown Escondido this Friday evening, sharing the bill with a guitar prodigy nearly six decades his junior. Bill Magee and the Anthony Cullins Trio headline the free Hidden City Sounds concert at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, pairing one of San Diego's most historically rooted blues bandleaders with one of its fastest-rising young talents.
The show, part of a free outdoor summer concert series, is scheduled for August 14 in the Lyric Court courtyard at the arts center, located at 340 N. Escondido Blvd, according to KPBS. General admission is free and open to all ages, with optional reserved bistro table VIP seating available for $20 per person, per the California Center for the Arts. As with any outdoor event, dates and times are subject to change without notice, according to the event organizer.
A Bandmate of Hendrix, Redding, and Waters
Magee's résumé reads like a survey of American blues and soul history. According to KPBS, he was a former bandmate of a young Jimi Hendrix in Jimmy James and the Flames, and he performed alongside James Brown, Otis Redding, Muddy Waters, and B.B. King. He also performed at Harlem's Apollo Theater.
Born in Mississippi in 1943, Magee bought his first guitar for $29.99 from Montgomery Ward as a teenager living in Harlem, New York, after saving money from a part-time department store job, according to the San Diego Reader. He had moved to New York to live with his brother after his parents passed away, and he became the first person in his family to graduate high school, the Reader reports. Magee eventually stepped away from the road to raise his family before returning to the San Diego stage, KPBS notes, and he now carries the label of a San Diego blues legend and an award-winning bandleader.
Decades Leading the Kansas City Playboys
Magee spent nearly three decades leading the Kansas City Playboys in New York before retiring from full-time road touring in 1984 and relocating to San Diego in 1987, according to the Reader. He formed the Bill Magee Blues Band in 1993 and was voted Best Blues Band by the San Diego Music Association and Reader Magazine, per KPBS. In May 2026, he received the Blueshouter Award at San Diego's Gator by the Bay festival, an honor that further cemented his status as a foundational figure in San Diego's blues community.
Magee's live shows carry a distinct, unscripted quality. He maintains a personal rule of never using a pre-show set list, maintaining that writing down songs ahead of time pre-judges the audience instead of reacting to the crowd's energy in the moment, the Reader reports. He credits his raw performance style to hours of daily practice alongside listening to early Southern blues broadcasts, according to the same account.
The Fallbrook Kid Brings Psychedelic Soul
Opening the show is the Anthony Cullins Trio, fronted by a guitarist nicknamed the Fallbrook Kid who represents the region's rising generation of blues talent. Cullins began performing publicly while still attending Mission Vista High School in Oceanside and won the 2018 Dallas International Guitar Festival 10 Under 20 competition, according to the Times of San Diego. He went on to win Best Blues Artist in 2023, Artist of the Year at the 34th annual San Diego Music Awards in 2025, and Album of the Year in May 2026 for “Inside Out & Backwards.”
Cullins describes his signature style as psychedelic soul music, blending R&B, funk, soul, rock, jazz, and blues, with influences ranging from Eddie Hazel and Jeff Beck to George Benson and Eric Johnson, according to the California Center for the Arts. He has shared stages with veteran musicians, including Frank Hannon of Tesla and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Greg Douglass of the Steve Miller Band, the venue notes.
Inside the Venue and Escondido's Free Concert Series
The 12-acre California Center for the Arts campus sits in downtown Escondido and is adjacent to Escondido City Hall and Grape Day Park, per KPBS. The complex includes a 1,523-seat concert hall, a 406-seat Center Theater, a visual arts museum, art and dance studios, and a conference center with meeting and banquet facilities. Grape Day Park, Escondido's oldest municipal park, also serves as the hub for major civic events, including the annual Independence Day Festival, which draws thousands of visitors each July, according to The Vista Press.
The campus had its groundbreaking on June 22, 1991, and opened its doors on October 1, 1994, following a 1985 voter-approved bond measure, according to KPBS. It has since attracted more than one million visitors and operates under a mission to enrich lives through the arts and community building. The 12-acre campus is owned by the City of Escondido and operated by the non-profit California Center for the Arts, Escondido Foundation, according to Wikipedia.
The Bill Magee and Anthony Cullins performance is one stop in the Hidden City Sounds free summer series, which runs from April through October on Friday evenings and spans genres including Latin rhythms, bluegrass, country, jazz, and classic rock, according to SeeCalifornia.com. Other 2026 featured performers in the series include bluegrass band Honey Buckets, classic rock group Daring Greatly, and jazz ensemble LP and the Vinyl. The series also includes food trucks, local vendor booths, and cash bars for evening attendees, per the California Center for the Arts.
Awards That Fund Music Education
The San Diego Music Awards, which has repeatedly recognized both Magee and Cullins, donates its event proceeds to the San Diego Music Foundation's Guitars for Schools program. That initiative has raised more than $1 million to supply Taylor guitars to more than 100 local schools, according to the Union-Tribune, partnering with instrument manufacturer Taylor Guitars to equip public school music classrooms across the county.
