Curtis Salgado joins forces with ace guitarist Alan Hager for a series of very rare intimate duo shows celebrating music from their celebrated Alligator Records album "Rough Cut".
Award-winning vocalist, instrumentalist and songwriter Curtis Salgado is revered worldwide for his ability to wring every ounce of soul out of every song he performs.
Born in 1954, Salgado grew up in Eugene, Oregon with music all around him. His parents’ vast music collection included everything from Fats Waller to Ray Charles, and his older brother and sister turned him on to the soul and blues of Wilson Pickett and Muddy Waters at an early age. Salgado became a mentor and inspiration to Blues Brother actor John Belushi In 1977, when Belushi was in Eugene filming Animal House. Once Salgado started sharing some of his blues knowledge, a fast friendship grew. Salgado spent hours playing old records for Belushi, teaching him about blues and R&B that led to creation of the Blues Brothers, a best-selling record album (which was dedicated to Curtis) and finally as a major motion picture (Cab Calloway’s character in the film was named Curtis as an homage).
Once Salgado joined forces with his friend Robert Cray and began playing together as The Robert Cray Band, he found himself sharing stages with many of his heroes, including Muddy Waters, Bobby Bland, Albert Collins and Bonnie Raitt. After Salgado and Cray parted ways in 1982, Curtis went on to front Roomful Of Blues, singing and touring with them from 1984 through 1986.
He has since had a stellar multi-award winning career across the world and seeing the release of a slew of incredible albums.
Salgado & Hager - Rough Cut
Alan Hager has been jamming with Salgado since 2003, and joined his band full-time in 2015. “Alan is the best player in the business, unlike anybody else,” Salgado says.
Together, the two blues fans and friends took time out of their busy touring schedule to record Rough Cut, a stripped-down album featuring a potent mix of newly written, timeless originals and carefully chosen blues covers. "We did it for the love of the music," says Salgado. "This is where our hearts are. These are deep songs that we love to play."
With Curtis' inspired singing and world-class harmonica playing and Alan's spellbinding guitar, Rough Cut is the album Salgado and Hager have always wanted to make together—soulful, sparse, haunting—a blues lover’s dream come true. The music is a moving exploration of the joyful, emotionally uplifting power of passionately played and soulfully sung acoustic blues, the music Hager calls "American Classical." "This type of music moves us the most," says Salgado. "You believe it when you hear it."
“Salgado’s range and power as a vocalist are a tour-de-force...hard-nosed blues, beautifully nuanced R&B, phat and funky”
“Salgado inspires chills. Upbeat and original…poignant and wise with a great sense of humor”
Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm / Tickets £30
All seating/tables are first-come, first-served.