Bob Faris has been a working musician for more three decades. After pursuing a Bachelor of Special Studies degree from Cornell College in music education and roots music studies, he managed bands of various genres. Among his accomplishments are positions as musical director for gospel music pioneer Wally Fowler, director of music productions for an Ozarks area theme park, and music director of an entertainment theater in Branson, Missouri. Mr. Faris was employed by country music mega-star Reba McEntire performing for her on both fiddle and guitar. As a member of her touring band, he appeared throughout the country during her many live concerts, on the legendary stage of the Grand Ole Opry, as well as cable TV’s Entertainment Tonight and Hee Haw.

He has been a highly sought private music instructor since 1973, and served as a founding faculty member of The Americana Music Academy - a well respected private non-profit roots music school in Lawrence, Kansas. He has been a frequent guest clinician throughout the U.S. and Canada conducting instrumental, vocal, and ensemble workshops as well as 'Bluegrass in the Schools' presentations.

For more than a dozen years ending in 2009, his family bluegrass ensemble - Faris Family - entertained tens of thousands of fans at hundreds of events per year throughout the U.S. and Canada. Over the years the group released eleven self-produced CD projects and five well received concert videos to their many followers. Beloved by their fans, they received a total of fifty-two nominations which yielded seventeen individual and group awards from the fan-based membership of the Society for the Preservation of Blue Grass Music of America (SPBGMA) Midwest Bluegrass Music Awards. Included in the list are four 'Bluegrass Band of the Year - Traditional' and five consecutive 'Entertaining Group of the Year' awards making them one of the most fan-honored bluegrass bands in the country.

As family members parted ways professionally, two sons decided to continue careers in bluegrass music. Rick Faris lives with his growing family in Topeka, Kansas where - along with being a skilled builder of custom guitars and a highly regarded vintage instrument repairman with Steve Mason Luthiers in Lawrence, Kansas - tours internationally sharing his considerable singing ability and performing on mandolin with the popular bluegrass recording group The Special Consensus. Ed Faris now resides with his family in Robertson County, Tennessee where he is a Nashville area freelance recording & live sound engineer and tours as utility musician and baritone vocalist with Grand Ole Opry member Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder.