Bob Artis with the mandolin stand he received for his 80th birthday – photo © Mitch Meadors
This article is a contribution from Karen Artis, wife of lifelong bluegrass musician Bob Artis, who also wrote the popular 1975 book, Bluegrass. It is prompted by Bob’s recent 80th birthday celebration.
On Sunday July 26, 2026, Bob Artis turned 80, and what a great day it was! Early that morning he got a surprise message video from friend Becky Buller, along with husband Jeff and daughter Romy, singing him what can only be described as a totally zany rendition of Happy Birthday. That kicked off his big day in a big way, followed by a huge pickin’ picnic with over 175 family, friends, neighbors, fans, and former bandmates gathered together to visit, pick and share memories from a lifetime in bluegrass.
And a lifetime it has been for Bob, playing mandolin professionally for 60 years. From his first band at age 15, The Lonesome Road Ramblers in southern California, to his years in Pittsburgh with Mac Martin & The Dixie Travelers, then fronting the Travelers when Mac stepped aside for a short time, he moved on to The Bluefield Boys and The Dog Run Boys in the late 1970s and 80s. In 2020 when the big COVID shutdown hit, he wrapped up his performing days after 17 years with the popular regional group, The Allegheny Drifters.
With the exception of the Lonesome Road Ramblers, all the bands were represented at the picnic by one or more surviving members – Dixie Travelers’ fiddler Mike Carson and bass player Norm Azinger, Bluefield Boys’ guitar man Mick Martin, Dog Run Boys’ bass player Bernie Cunningham and banjo man Don Shean, plus The Allegheny Drifters’ fiddler Michele Birkby-Vance, banjo man Radford Vance, bass player wife Karen, and guitar/lead singer Bernie Cunningham.
Friends came from all over – Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, West Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina – and there was non-stop jamming all day and into the night, with many players mixing it up, moving easily from one group to another. Lifelong friends, Mark Yacovone, John and Wendy Mackin, with their son Jack and grandson Luke, kept the music going with bassist Trish Imbrogno and her partner Pete Flynn on banjo.
Promoters of Ohio’s Mitch & Cindy’s Bluegrass Festival, Mitch Meadors and Cindy Matheson, brought Cindy’s dad, Bob’s old friend Buzz Matheson. Mitch, currently with the Clay Hess Band, played some great stuff on his Loar with Cindy on dobro and Buzz on banjo. Jim, Linda, and Bert of the Cochran Family, honored members of West Virginia’s Country Music Hall of Fame, enjoyed picking pretty much non-stop throughout the day. And Alan Epstein, an early student of Bob’s who in 2002 founded the contemporary Pittsburgh Mandolin Orchestra, traded licks with Jesse Smith, 2021 International Finger Style Guitar World Champion at Winfield.
An especially proud moment for Bob was when his sweet granddaughter Libby, who had just celebrated her 10th birthday on July 24th, summoned up enough courage to join in and strum her ukulele with Grampa in her very first jam session ever.
As one neighbor later told Bob, “it was the nicest, coolest birthday party he had ever been to,” and another said it was “like bluegrass on steroids with music in every corner of the pavilion!”
Exactly the kind of day Bob had hoped it would be – “a true celebration of life” – while still living well and enjoying every minute!
