Lydia Pense and Cold Blood

The word legend certainly applies to Lydia Pense and Cold Blood…and not in some past-tense-make-a-living-as-an-oldies-act sort of way either. Pense can still shout like a 60’s soul diva and purr a slow blues tune with spine-tingling subtle.

Cold Blood, as a whole, features a stellar group of musicians who have been playing together for nearly 20 years including Steve Dune on guitar, Steve Salinas on keyboards, a gritty-growling horn section comprised of Rich Armstrong and Rob Zuckerman, a stellar rhythm section featuring Evan Palmerston on bass and T Moran on drums, plus singers Fred Ross and Dana Moret. The band members are all veteran Bay Area musicians who have played with many great artists including Elvin Bishop, The Starship, Boz Scaggs, Albert Collins and more.

Of course there is Lydia, who still has the chops with the patina of a seasoned veteran who’s done and seen it all. Together she and the band continue to twist R&B (both Old School and New School) into something that doesn’t have a label. On any given night, Lydia Pense and Cold Blood power through their historic essentials like “You Got Me Hummin,'” “I Just Want To Make Love To You,” “I’m a Good Woman,” and “Down to the Bone.” Now there’s a whole new CD of future classics that draws on their heritage but is not stifled by the past. Able to draw from the first new Cold Blood album in three decades, Lydia and the band blast out a set that covers 40 years of thumping, throbbing, East Bay funk.