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The HiPower Band

It’s a rare thing when the stars line up to bring together musicians of this magnitude. Rarer still is that they all thought it sounded like fun to come out of the studio and off the road to dedicate time to playing classic blues, rock and R&B songs. Adding their original contributions to these musical styles, Hi Power’s show becomes a jaw-droppingly entertaining couple of hours.

HiPower is the brainchild of triple Grammy award-winning guitarist and slide & dobro player Al Perkins, who’s recorded, played with and/or produced some of the greatest artists in the history of American music, including Garth Brooks, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Randy Newman, Roy Orbison, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton, John Prine, The Rolling Stones, Steven Stills and Manassas , and Wynonna, as well as over a hundred other names you’ve heard of.

Al is a member of the Texas Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and has a star on Opryland’s Star Walk. Revered in Nashville music circles, when Al calls, you pick up the phone.

So when Al called, to see if Kristine Arnold, Lead Singer and half of the eleven-times CMA-nominated duo Sweethearts of the Rodeo (with her sister, Janis Gill wanted to sing lead vocals, she cleared her schedule and said yes. Kristine brings passion, power and an unending set of chops to the band as female lead vocalist.

Al and Kristine are joined by Gary Link a master of the bass who has played for John Kay and Steppenwolf, Rita Coolidge, and others. Cactus Moser, beat keeper extraordinaire, who is best known as the founder, ASCAP award winning songwriter and drummer for Four-time ACM and CMA Group of the Year winners and twice Grammy-nominated group Highway101. He has also played with Johnny Rivers, Firefall, Jennifer Warrens, SteveTaylor, Phil Keagy and even Rodney Dangerfield. Cactus regularly brings crowds to a screaming frenzy with his drum solos. He has been the Modern Drummer readers poll winner on 4 different occasions.

Newest addition to the Hipower sound is Singer/songwriter Leonard Arnold, a longtime friend of Al's from Texas. He joins in on vocals and guitar. Leonard comes from the Austin, Texas music scene and toured and recorded with Michael Martin Murphy, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Fromholz, and Texas legend Rusty Wier. He also "did time" in California teaming with Richard Bowden in "Blue Steel", a band famous for touring with the "Eagles". Leonard says "He has been nominated for nothing!" The audiences say he is nominated for everything he does! Leonard and Kristine do several of crowd favorite Duets. Between all the members of the group Millions of record sales are documented to their careers.

Though Kristine does most of the leads, there are five vocal mics on stage and “everyone” uses them, singing backup vocals and doing various lead vocals during the show. The result is a stunning array of styles within the overarching format of blues and R&B and rock. Kristine has a definite country/blues sultriness in her voice, yet Al, Cactus, Gary and Leonard rock it out with razor sharpness and sing like they've lived it. Al’s renditions of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” and Eric Clapton’s “Crossroads”, topped off by superb steel guitar, are crowd favorites. Cactus, Gary and Leonard each add their favorites, along with well-honed vocals, to the party. The band interacts with the crowd on many levels. Joking and stirring the party at every opportunity!

But it’s Al who ties it all together. Hearing a bar band play a classic Rolling Stones tune is one thing. Hearing a guy who actually played steel guitar with the Stones (on the hit-laden album “Exile on Main Street”) is a whole other story. The band’s energy is infectious, with an extra dose of humor, dancing and audience participation in the mix. The bottom line: This band doesn’t purport to thoroughly cover the great R&B and blues classics. They do it in such a fresh and powerful way that you almost forget anyone else ever performed those songs.
Often guest stars drop by and join the band !!!! Its an action packed journey every show!

For more information take a look at the Al Perkins Music website