Saturday January 27th 3-6pm (free)

Highly impressive originals & hard-rocking covers.

Kristen Black was raised in Los Angeles, California. Black states, “It was so cool growing up in L.A., there was a whole lot of crazy going on there. A lot of my music comes from extremely colorful and funny experiences growing up in L.A.” Black draws from so many different styles when she writes a song. Her main influences are Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Chicago Blues, Prince, and The Pretenders.

After high school, Kristen earned a degree in biochemistry from Cal Poly. “How far is that from music?!”, she laughs. She later went on and earned a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry and pursued a career in teaching chemistry back at her alma mater, Cal Poly. In 2001, Kristen decided to take some time off teaching to put a band together and record some of her songs culminating in her first self-titled CD, Kristen Black. “I was so fortunate to be introduced to some extremely talented musicians right at the time I had the inspiration and financial support to record a CD. Not long after recording that CD, a high demand for chemistry teachers at Cal Poly called her back and she eventually accepted a tenure-track organic chemistry position and fell off the music radar for a few years. Now that tenure and promotion have been awarded, Kristen has gladly jumped back in the music scene.

Besides originals, Kristen loves to play cover songs from her musical inspirations to keep people on their feet. These artists include: Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty, The Pretenders, Rolling Stones, Buddy and Julie Miller, The Clash, and John Hiatt plus many others.