Bob Thurston first crossed paths with the Rogues in 2007, when they performed with The US Air Force Band in Washington DC. At the time, Bob led the Band’s Music Production staff, which wrote several of the orchestral arrangements used on that program. More followed when the American Rogues played with the Orchestra again in 2013. 

Bob has been composing and arranging music professionally since 1980. He has written for college and high-school bands throughout the United States, and has several published wind-band compositions and arrangements to his credit. His duo arrangement of “Happy Xmas (War Is Over),” written for cello virtuoso Yo Yo Ma and ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro, is featured on Ma’s 2008 CD “Songs of Joy and Peace.”

During his 20-year career with The US Air Force Band, Bob wrote for all of the 170-member organization’s ensembles, including the Concert Band and Orchestra, the Singing Sergeants, the Air Force Strings, the Ceremonial Brass, numerous chamber groups, and the Airmen of Note jazz ensemble. He wrote for a wide variety of guest artists who performed with the Band, including Spyro Gyra, Kool & the Gang, Restless Heart, Lonestar, Wynonna, Rita Coolidge, the Ventures, Ben Vereen, Chaka Khan, The Miracles and Melinda Doolittle – and of course, the American Rogues.  

Bob also performed occasionally with the Air Force Band as a substitute percussionist, rendering final honors to veterans at Arlington National Cemetery and marching in four presidential inaugural parades, as well as sitting in with the Concert Band and the Airmen of Note.

Bob earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from Florida State University, where he studied arranging and composition with Charles Carter. He played in every major ensemble in the College of Music, serving as timpanist and principal percussionist in the Symphonic and Concert bands. For three years he was the section leader of the Marching Chiefs drumline, known as Big 8.

Bob retired from the Air Force in 2014. Before his military service, he taught instrumental music for five years in Orlando, Florida, and Columbus, Ohio. Before that, he worked for several years as a clerk, writer and copy editor for his hometown newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat.

Bob and his wife, Linda, live in Northern Virginia, where he writes and plays music.