page_title: Rob Quist
section_title: Solo career
hierarchical_section_title: Rob Quist / Solo career
caption_attribution_description: Rob Quist performs along with Jack Gladstone, Phil Aaberg and Friends perform at the University Theater in Great Falls in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act.
context_page_description: Robert Ernest Quist is an American singer, instrumentalist, songwriter, and politician. Originally a founding member of the Mission Mountain Wood Band, his songs have also been recorded by artists Michael Martin Murphey and Loretta Lynn among others. He is known as a musical and cultural ambassador for the state of Montana and was appointed to the Montana Arts Council by Governor Brian Schweitzer. He has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. He was the Democratic nominee for Montana's House seat in the 2017 special election.
context_section_description: As a solo performer Quist formed a backup band called Great Northern.   He periodically reunites with the surviving members of the Mission Mountain Wood Band for a small number of concerts.
  Rob Quist and Great Northern have performed his original music with the North Dakota State Symphony, the Fairbanks Alaska Symphony, the Glacier Orchestra as well as the Billings, Butte, Helena and Missoula Symphonies. He has written and recorded national television and radio ads for Levis 501 Jeans, Amtrak's Empire Builder and Original Coors. His original song, "Blue Jean Love Affair" was heard in the Top 20 Country Music Markets.
  During a stint in Nashville, Quist forged a songwriting partnership and enduring friendship with Michael Martin Murphey.  Their partnership culminated in their song "Close to the Land" which became the theme song for the American Public Television program "America's Heartland."  The song went on to win Song of the Year at the Texas Music Awards.  His original song "America...Pass It On" and video featuring Jack Gladstone won a Finalist Award at the International Wildlife Film Festival for National Geographic, received airplay on Public Television and featured at many Interpretive Centers throughout the United States.  Quist has released 15 CDs of mostly original music about the lives and history of the people of Montana and the West, placing his songs on Billboard and Independent Charts. Quist received airplay in Great Britain, Belgium, Italy, Japan and Switzerland.  Both as a solo artist and with M2WB, Quist appeared with a number of musical acts including Heart, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Jimmy Buffett, Dolly Parton,The Allman Brothers Band, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Bonnie Raitt, the Charlie Daniels Band, Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, and Jay Leno.
  Quist has been featured on CBS National News in a segment called "Country Comes to New York"; he was a guest artist on the Riders in the Sky national radio show "Riders Radio Theater" as well as Montana Public Television. He composed original music for the Montana Repertory Theatre Production "Voice of The Prairie" and original songs for a production about rodeo in present-day Montana, tentatively titled "Cowboy Up."
  Quist was one of the first honorees to be inducted into the University of Montana School of Fine Art's "Hall of Honors", saluted as "a celebrated Montana musician and composer who has captured the spirit of the West in his music, an evocative and versatile artist whose gift of song has touched the hearts and souls of his countrymen, an eloquent proponent of the history and beauty of the West whose legacy in song will be embraced by generations to follow."
caption: Quist performing in 2014
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