Curtis Salgado

The blues don't bicycle, they don't microbrew, and they're as environmentally friendly as a pack of Winston straights. In other words, the blues don't belong in Portland, Oregon. And yet Curtis Salgado has emerged from the Northwest as one of the preeminent stylists and harmonica players of the post-blues rock era. He's a traditionalist, of sorts, with an instinctive feel for the Chicago style (John Belushi modeled the Blues Brothers after him) and for Southern-fried funk, two forces that come together on Clean Getaway, his first album since being given the death sentence of a liver-cancer diagnosis in 2005. But he's a survivor, and onstage he remains a powerhouse, all sweat and moan and urgency, with harp-licks sharp and mean enough to clear-cut Mount Hood.