The summer's second large-scale music festival at Snowbird has a long history at the Little Cottowood Canyon resort.

The Snowbird Rock & Blues Festival was the Jazz & Blues Fest for 18 years until it got a new name in 2006. Unlike early July's Mountain Music Festival (which showcased bluegrass and alt-country) and August's Gospel Tent Revival, this event promises grooves as hot as the summer sun overhead.

Texan rocker Alejandro Escovedo headlines Friday, Los-Angeles-based jam band Little Feat headlines Saturday, and country rocker Steve Earle headlines Sunday -- and all should rouse the fans to their feet as twilight cools down the temperatures.

But like any festival, there are lesser-known acts who bring mountain-high talent waiting to be discovered, such as Coco Montoya, Janiva Magness and Danielia Cotton. Each spoke to The Tribune about what licks they will bring to Snowbird this weekend.

Coco Montoya » The 58-year-old guitarist was a member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in the 1980s, but learned the art of the blues from the late Albert Collins, who initially hired Montoya as a drummer. Collins, the Texan blues guitarist with many nicknames, including "The Ice Man," "The Master of the Telecaster" and "The Razor Blade," took Montoya under his wing.

Part of Montoya's motivation, nowadays, is to continue Collins' legacy. "I've been coming to Utah since the '70s with Albert Collins," Montoya said. "[My music] has always been a tribute to him. I want to keep Albert's name out there, for young kids who never got the chance to hear him."

Montoya, is left-handed but plays a right-handed guitar upside down, with the bass strings at the upper edge of the fretboard and treble strings at the lower edge. This gives him a unique style that contrasts with Jimi Hendrix, who was also left-handed but usually played a restrung right-handed guitar.

He's currently recording a new album with fellow bluesman Keb' Mo'. "He's taking me in a new direction," Montoya said. "It's still a blues album, but I want to work on my vocals. It's way out of my comfort zone. To be a little uncomfortable is a good thing."

Janiva Magness » The soul-singer sings the blues because she has lived them. Born in Detroit, Magness lost both parents to suicide by the time she was 16, was in 12 foster homes in two years, and became a teenage mother who gave her baby daughter up for adoption.

"I need to be able to sing the truth," Magness said about how her history informs her singing. "I don't care what genre it is."

Magness has just released her first album on Alligator Records, a Chicago-based independent blues record label that provides a nurturing home for fellow blues artists such as Marcia Ball and Koko Taylor. The record, "What Love Will Do," features 13 songs that are imbued with Magness' silver-tongued emotion, with new material written especially for her and covers of Little Milton, Tina Turner, Bill Withers, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. Magness said one of her richest experiences in recent years was traveling to the Middle East to perform for the troops on a USO tour. "It was really intense," she said. "I understood what my job was: Human connection. I didn't go there for political reasons. I couldn't think of other human beings so much in need of human connection."

Danielia Cotton » On Tuesday, blues guitarist and singer Cotton admitted that she had been "projectile vomiting" because of a bad meal the night before, but is eating gallons of chicken soup this week to make sure her stomach and fingers are ready for Saturday's performance.

It's Cotton's first performance in Utah, and she's touring behind her recently released live EP, "Live Child," which features live versions of songs she initially recorded on her first two albums. After her live shows, fans would buy her albums but always asked her if she had any live material. "[This] is in response to the fans," Cotton said. "They would keep asking and asking. It's a good substitute for my live show -- though there's nothing like a live show."

Cotton grew up in a small New Jersey town where only seven black students went to her high school -- including her cousin, who her white friends always told her to date because of the limited same-race offerings. As a result, she said she grew up as an "angry black child" and left New Jersey to go to college -- in Vermont.

There she found her mentor, professor of music and jazz trumpeter Bill Dixon. "He changed my life," she said. "If you have natural ability, he expected you to work harder."

She plans on working hard this weekend, provided the stomach is steady. "Our live show is very intense," she promised.