Rich Hopkins

Rich Hopkins, guitarist and songwriter celebrated for his 1980s tenure in the Sidewinders and his 1990s work with the Sand Rubies, launched Rich Hopkins and the Luminarios as a full-time ensemble in the early 1990s. What had begun as a side project soon absorbed the skills of numerous collaborators drawn from the Tuscon, AZ, music community. After issuing the independent debut Personality Crisis, the group delivered Dirt Town in 1994, Dumpster of Love in 1995, and the solo set Paraguay. The 1996 album El Paso preceded another in a long series of European tours, while 1997’s The Glorious Sounds of the Luminarios marked the first appearance of bassist Mike Davis from the MC5 and a return appearance by Sand Rubies drummer Bruce Halper. Recordings from the ensuing tour yielded the live release 3000 Germans Can’t Be Wrong, and the band’s sixth studio album, Devolver, arrived in 2000.