Many men left a footstep in the story of the United States in politics, music, economics, and human rights. In the case of the following man, he accomplished what many could not in the path: to be able to catch the spirit of the West with his songs. And that is something that only few could do it, and his legacy will live forever because of this.
Who is Rob Quist? This is the purpose of the article of today. We want to know him, his personality and life and to describe his trajectory as an artist.
Rob Quist’s origins
His full name is Robert Ernest Quist. He was born in Cut Bank, Montana in January 5th, 1948. He loved so much playing basketball that he ended playing it for the University of Montana. Soon before, he would eventually be interested in music, as he would join the Mission Mountain Band and finally becoming a country musician in the 1966.
Musical career
The Mission Mountain Band was a bluegrass a country rock band that played their first performance in the Rare Earth in 1971. They were on tour nationally, and they succeeded in every place they visited. They ended playing in local events such as the University of Montana’s Aber Day kegger, and in the national television show Hee Haw and the ACB Cheryl Ladd Special.
When the band finally broke up in 1982, Rob joined Terry Robinson and Kurt Bergeron to form the Montana Band, which existed to your extensively and took first prize in the Willie Nelson country challenge. Sadly, Quist left the Montana band when a tragic plane crash took the lives of Robinson, Bergeron and the other members of the band.
As solo singer, Quist formed a backup band named the Great Northern. Together with the band, Rob Quist performed 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 wrote and recorded national television and radio ads for the Levis 501 Jeans, and its impact has been so great that “Blue Jean Love Affair” was heard in the top 20 Country Music Markets. His song “Close to the Land” became the Song of the Year at the Texas Music Awards, and his original song “America… Pass it on” and video won a Finalist Award at the International Wildlife Film Festival for National Geographic.
In the years to come, he has published more than 15 CDs of mostly original music about the lives and history of the people of Montana and the West. Not only he left a mark in the music of the US in general, but in Montana, being honored in the University of Montana with a Hall of Honors – being said that thanks to him, the essence and the spirit of the West was caught in all the songs he left of the nation.
Many of the first songs of the young Rob were recorded by Martin Murphey and Loretta Lynn, and by the time he managed to be appointed to the Montana Arts Council by the governor of the moment, Brian Schweitzer.
Rob Quist and his political career
Before people could realize it, Quist was one of the most important supporters of the Democratic Party. He used to practice the “prairie populism” by assisting a single-payer healthcare system opposing the AHCA – defining many of the political thoughts that would be traits for his future campaign as a politician.
After all the walkthrough of Rob’s life as a musician, we have one thing left: part of his political career. On January 4th of 2017, Quist informed to everyone that he would look for the Democratic nomination for the special election in order to full the US House seat held by Ryan Zinke (this because Zinke was going to be nominated to be Secretary of the Interior).
Soon he started his campaign, and after it Rob Quist would have to face Greg Gianforte as his political opponent for the role they wanted to obtain. After a polemic incident with Gianforte assaulting a reporter from The Guardian, voters already picked their choosings and although the situation was tense, Quist was politically defeated in the elections, getting only 44% of approval meanwhile Gianforte had 50%, although the results that Quist received were phenomenal.
In the current times, Quist is aiming to take the 2020 elections for Montana. It is too soon to know if he is going to take the sit this time, but what we know is that he is fighting with everything he has. He strongly believes that the US is a country of inequality, mainly because of the taxes that crush the life of the working classes. There other topics that we wants to deal, such as global warming, miscarriage, reproductive rights and even military intervention. If he is going to fulfill what he desires is something that only time will tell. Meanwhile, we are going to be listening his CDs in order to know his ideas better than the most.