By Gayle M. Irwin
into the inaugural class of the Montana Musicians Hall of Fame.
Rob’s musical introduction started at an early age. His mother played piano to “work through things,” he said. His family sang in the car, with Rob taking harmony. He played various instruments while in grade school, and he sang in the church choir during high school.
Banjo, now a favorite instrument, also became part of his life then. “I bought my first banjo through the Sears and Roebuck catalog when I was a sophomore,” Rob said. “You could buy a banjo for $39.95. I asked my mother if she would pony up twenty dollars, which she did. When I was inducted into the Montana Musicians Hall of Fame, I said, ‘I wish my mother was here to see the return on her investment.’”
While at the University of Montana, he auditioned for and was accepted into a prestigious group called the Jubileers. “We traveled through Canada and Europe,” Rob recalled. “I got addicted to performing.”
Rob met Steve Riddle while with the Jubileers and when Terry Robinson joined the pair, for a time they traveled as a trio. When they met and recruited Christian Johnson and Greg Reichenberg, the five became the legendary bluegrass and country-rock group Mission Mountain Wood Band and toured around the country in a 1950s Greyhound Scenic Cruiser.
They played nightclubs and for the Hell’s Angels. The group also appeared on national television shows, Hee Haw and a Cheryl Ladd special. “It was just the wildest thing,” Rob said. “We went to every state in the country.” The group returned to Montana several times and played for Missoula’s Aber Day Kegger. At one performance about 13,000 people showed up, he said. “It was like playing to this wall of humanity. I get chills just thinking about it. It was the most incredible thing.”
Mission Mountain Wood Band broke up in 1981. Rob’s desire to write songs took him to Nashville where he connected with many songwriters andsingers,includingMichaelMartin Murphy of Wildfire, Carolina in the Pines, and other hits. They became good friends and performed and wrote songs together. One that they created years later, Close To The Land (America’s Heartland), became the theme song for a PBS program called “America’s Heartland.” It also won Song of the Year at the Texas Music Awards in 2007.
Rob said he missed Montana and wanted to “write (and sing) about the things I really care about – the people, the beauty of the land, and the history ofthiscountry.” Hereturnedtothe Big Sky State and started a solo career with a backup band he christened Great Northern. “I called the band Great Northern because I wanted people to know there are a lot of great musicians in the northern states, not just the south,” he said.
For many years, he and the band performed around and outside of Montana. For a time, he and other members of Mission Mountain Wood Band also came back together. Then came the pandemic, and performances shut down. He explored new paths.
Rob created commercials for companies like Levi Jeans, Coors beer, and Amtrak’s Empire Builder. A video for the latter featured his wife, Bonni, whom he met at the University of Montana. “I didn’t want it to be a documentary, so I made it a love story,” Rob said. “The day of filming was our anniversary.” This year marks the couple’s 47th anniversary.
Native American culture also plays a strong role in his music. “Having grown up next to the Blackfeet, I really wanted to write about their stories as well,” Rob said. He’s been able to do that on his own and through his friendship with fellow Montana Musicians Hall of Fame inductee, Jack Gladstone, who is part Blackfeet. Their co-created original song, America… Pass It On with accompanying video, won a Finalist Award at the International Wildlife Film Festival for National Geographic. The pair developed a program called “Odyssey West,” which included the song, for the Lewis and Clark 200th anniversary. It received airplay on PBS and was featured at many interpretive centers across the United States. The two traveled and performed Odyssey West for the historic anniversary.
“I love playing with Jack,” Rob said. “I think it’s pretty emotional for audiences to see how healing it is when Jack and I perform together, especially when we do the song, Spiritual Brothers of a Different Color.” The two met nearly thirty years ago at Glacier National Park, and they plan to perform together at the park a few times this summer.
Rob recently wrote a song that focuses on a unique, ancient forest in northwestern Montana’s Yaak region of the Kootenai National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service plans a major cutting in this space where Englemann spruce and larch trees estimated to be several hundred years old still stand and a rare rainforest-like makeup remains. Voices to protect this area include Montana writer Rick Bass, whom Rob admires.
He and other musicians share a guitar created from a downed Englemann spruce from that region to spotlight this conservation effort. “It’s called ‘The Black Ram Guitar,’” Rob stated. “When I played this guitar, it just spoke to me. The song is called See the Forest for the Trees, which is all about seeing the big picture.”
Rob’s musical talents and songwriting ability are shared with his son Guthrie and daughter Halladay. Guthrie spent time in California, performing with a band called Wild Stallions. Halladay is a rising talent in Montana, performing solo, as part of a group, and with her father. Like Rob, she sings and plays a variety of instruments. They have performed together often and Rob relishes this time with his daughter. “Halladay is my favorite person to play music with,” Rob stated. “She has this incredible voice! I just adore her.”
Halladay has performed with many notable musicians, including Jewel, Wynonna Judd, The Travelin’ McCourys, Michael Martin Murphey, and Collin Raye. She is also part of a group that performs classical and big band songs. “I’m so proud of her,” Rob stated. “And Guthrie released a song that’s popular in several countries.”
Rob and Bonni are grandparents now, and though Rob said his grandson is more into Legos, heavy equipment, and dinosaurs than music, plans to soon give the seven-year-old a ukulele, adding another family member to the Quist musical legacy.
Regarding his lengthy musical career, Rob said, “It’s been incredible. It’s been the honor of my life to be able to be a voice for the west and to be able to play music. If I would have known when I was a little kid that my life would come out this way, I’d have been so excited! It’s been so gratifying for me – I could not be happier!”