Soul Shot

After years of scuffling on a variety of labels, the ex-Robert Cray, ex-Roomful of Blues harmonicist/vocalist has landed at last on Chicago’s Alligator Records, the nation’s premiere blues label. Curtis Salgado, who has triumphed over a failed liver and then lung cancer, has always been a powerful vocalist and a soul singer par excellence, and he proves it here. Accompanied by his Phantom Blues Band and backed by a studio full of guests that include a horn section and a trio of back-up singers, Salgado delivers in spades what he says he wanted to accomplish. “I wanted to make a soul record that you can listen to and dance to. Soul Shot [is] the solid best thing I’ve ever done. And that’s a fact.” Although I was rather disappointed that his magnificent harp playing is in such scant evidence—under three minutes on the whole disc—there’s no denying his forceful vocals on such songs as Otis Redding’s pumping, horn-happy “Love Man” and Bobby Womack’s equally up-tempo “What You Gonna Do?” which gets the show on the road. And Salgado’s own mournful “She Didn’t Cut Me Loose” is typical of the love problems he faces on several of the songs.

Curtis Salgado performs at the Cool Summer Blues and Brews party, Saturday, June 2, 5:30 p.m., at Gold Country Casino.