NEWS
New Greatest Hits Compilation Coming Soon!
8.31.15
A new greatest hits compilation spanning Rob Quist's entire career is set for an upcoming fall release. It will include cuts from legendary albums Songs From Western Harmony, This House of Memories, Living Wild and Free, Honor Bound, and Odyssey West.
Aber Day Reunion Concert makes big splash in Phillipsburg - The Missoulian
8.29.15
Even though I was a University of Montana student, I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the original Aber Day Keggers.
But I now have first-hand knowledge of the Aber Day Reunion concert 36 years later. On Aug. 22, the Philipsburg Rotary Club rekindled the event in Winninghoff Park.
All I can say is: Wowza. What a party.
Of course, I know well the legendary history of Aber Day due to the Montana PBS series, well-worn tales of muddy students sliding down the original Miller Creek rodeo grounds with pitchers of beer in their hands – and the headliners, Mission Mountain Wood Band.
MMWB, in its current incarnation led by original members Rob Quist and the very happy Steve Riddle, attracted a huge chunk of its now-older fans, still crazy after all these years.
Ecstatic with the big turnout, the Rotary committee outdid itself last weekend. Three thousand buoyant fans crammed lawn chair-to-lawn chair on the terraced amphitheater that sits snugly, perfectly below the town’s main street.
The concert set an attendance record in the welcoming little town that has a lot going on, including community theater.
“It was more than double the attendance than what we’ve done before,” said Jim Jenner, event marketing director for Rotary, which built the amphitheater in 2003.
“For a town of 800 people to host three times that many people is a pretty good test.”
John and Robin Hein, who celebrated the original Aber Day Keggers so long ago after meeting at UM, danced with the euphoric masses in front of the stage on Saturday, when MMWB headlined once again.
Carrying keepsake color photos of their 1970’s long-haired selves from the first keggers, the Heins reveled in the equally overjoyed fans around them.
“I went to three Aber Days, in 1974, ’75, ’76,” Robin told me.
“And John went to five, from ’73 through ’77. We’ve seen MMWB numerous times since the 1970s … we love seeing them each time.”
Quist and Riddle told the crowd many times how much they love Montana and their devoted fans – even though most of the familiar faces are older, like them.
Unlike their usual concerts, MMWB started with some of their hits like “Take a Whiff on Me.” No working up to their most popular songs; they jumped right in.
“They’ll probably sing it again later because they’ll forget,” cracked one jovial dancer, not-so-young herself.
And sing it again, they did.
Rob Quist and Halladay Quist perform free show at Giant Springs - Great Falls Tribune
8.5.15
Rob and Halladay Quist bring their signature Montana style to Giant Springs Sunday, Aug. 9 for the second half of the park’s free summer concert series.
Bring a chair or a blanket from 6 to 8 p.m. and enjoy music as gorgeous as the setting.
“The sound is amazing sitting in that little bowl,” said Jason Pignanelli, park manager. “It’s a relaxed, fun family atmosphere.”
The Quists, a father-daughter duo, are packed with talent and excited to play Great Falls. Rob Quist says he’s particularly jazzed about playing Giant Springs because it’s a place he’s been fascinated with since childhood.
“It’s one of the coolest water features in Montana,” he said.
Halladay, who just released her first Nashville-recorded solo album, adds, “Great Falls is always an incredible place to play, the people are very welcoming and open to my music.”
Although he is well-known for writing songs about the West, Quist prefers to dodge questions about what “type” of music he plays.
“I like to jump genres,” Quist said. His songs have shades of country, folk, R&B, jazz, and rock, so he resists applying any one classification to his sound.
Playing concerts together is very important to the Quists.
“I get to look over on the stage and see my dad,” said Halladay. “I owe so much of where I am now to my father. He’s taught me how to keep relationships with venue owners in Montana, how to be on the road and how to put on a great show.”
Quist quipped, “In our family, we don’t pass the torch. We pass the banjo.”