Bobby Sutliff

A minor hero of Southern power pop, Bobby Sutliff was the co-founder and one of the key creative minds behind <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">the Windbreakers</a>, a group who were celebrated by critics and their peers in their '80s heyday for their smart, melodically inventive tunes and sharp guitar work. (The 2003 compilation Time Machine [1982-2002] is an excellent introduction to their work.) Sutliff cut a pair of low-key solo albums during his days with <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">the Windbreakers</a>, and after they broke up in the early '90s, he opted not to make music his career but continued to write and record on his own schedule, and his emotionally generous and intelligently tuneful approach was on fine display on 2003's Perfect Dream and 2007's On a Ladder.

Born in 1956, Bobby Sutliff grew up in Jackson, Mississippi, and in high school he played in a band called Oral Sox, who specialized in <a href="spotify:artist:22bE4uQ6baNwSHPVcDxLCe">Rolling Stones</a> covers and released an independent single in 1980. Attending an <a href="spotify:artist:3EhbVgyfGd7HkpsagwL9GS">Alice Cooper</a> concert, Sutliff met <a href="spotify:artist:0RJgjbSOl3rxUZ8SWNk21h">Tim Lee</a>, a fellow teenager from Jackson with a taste for idiosyncratic rock & roll. In 1981, Sutliff and <a href="spotify:artist:0RJgjbSOl3rxUZ8SWNk21h">Lee</a> formed <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">the Windbreakers</a>, whose sound was rooted in power pop informed by classic sounds of the '60s. (In a 1987 interview, Sutliff joked, "<a href="spotify:artist:0RJgjbSOl3rxUZ8SWNk21h">Tim</a> likes to say that my favorite bands were always anything that started with a B, like <a href="spotify:artist:1PCZpxHJz7WAMF8EEq8bfc">Byrds</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3WrFJ7ztbogyGnTHbHJFl2">Beatles</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4DQj1q0unpi9KF8jO1Wqks">Beau Brummels</a>.") In 1982, the band cut a four-song 7", Meet the Windbreakers, and 1983 brought a six-song 12", Any Monkey with a Typewriter, featuring production from <a href="spotify:artist:27tICP1Y2IuLqCpORpfNxF">Mitch Easter</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3Lh9zu1Q4c6n4HroEbcjwG">Richard Barone</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:368QQvIamnKKKUiYskBRZN">the Bongos</a> guesting on guitar. In 1985, <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">the Windbreakers</a> struck a deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Homestead+Records%22">Homestead Records</a>, and Terminal was issued later that year. The Georgia-based indie label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22DB+Records%22">DB Records</a> teamed with the band to issue their second LP, 1986's Run, while 1987 saw Sutliff's first solo album, Only Ghosts Remain; produced by <a href="spotify:artist:27tICP1Y2IuLqCpORpfNxF">Mitch Easter</a>, Sutliff played most of the instruments himself, although <a href="spotify:artist:27tICP1Y2IuLqCpORpfNxF">Easter</a>, Barry Brown, and <a href="spotify:artist:0RJgjbSOl3rxUZ8SWNk21h">Tim Lee</a> also pitched in.

Two more <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">Windbreakers</a> albums followed, 1987's A Different Sort and 1989's At Home with Bobby & Tim, and the group continued to earn plaudits from power pop fans and fellow Southern underground rockers, but their commercial prospects never significantly improved, and Sutliff grew tired of touring. <a href="spotify:artist:3tjYrig0CLnOnW2y5rAJ2k">Russ Tolman</a> of <a href="spotify:artist:46VyUpfU6n2uTJa99fjWxu">True West</a> produced 1991's Electric Landlady, which proved to be the final <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">Windbreakers</a> album; that same year, Sutliff released a cassette-only collection of solo material, Griffin Bay. Sutliff formed a new group called the Flyrods who gigged locally, but he opted to pursue a full-time career outside of music, and wasn't heard from by record buyers for most of the decade. In 2000, Sutliff re-emerged with Bitter Fruit, a collection of home-recorded tracks mixed with lost studio material he cut with <a href="spotify:artist:27tICP1Y2IuLqCpORpfNxF">Mitch Easter</a> in the '90s. In 2001, Sutliff and <a href="spotify:artist:0RJgjbSOl3rxUZ8SWNk21h">Lee</a> took part in a short-lived <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">Windbreakers</a> reunion; they recorded a pair of tracks that appeared on the excellent 2003 <a href="spotify:artist:6Pdz9wJyHZzK3A0nUbDtWo">Windbreakers</a> collection Time Machine (1982-2002) and played a handful of live shows before cordially parting ways. The activity did jumpstart Sutliff's productivity, and he released a new studio album, Perfect Dream, in 2003. 2006 saw another archival collection, Allsorts, featuring a dozen covers, demos, and studio outtakes. On a Ladder, released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Paisley+Pop+Records%22">Paisley Pop Records</a> in 2007, was mostly recorded at home, with <a href="spotify:artist:1i7YYagcULgnW5Qilsto1d">Chris Stamey</a> taking the tapes to his studio, Modern Recording, for overdubs and mixing. Sutliff would contribute to albums by Ron Sanchez's studio project <a href="spotify:artist:3RJybkyUAjLQnCAqHaGpBo">Donovan's Brain</a> and former <a href="spotify:artist:3yesh1QeNXucaDFw8ZPKxd">Flamin' Groovies</a> singer <a href="spotify:artist:6kBPdjPdiymtTQ0vsKMQ46">Roy Loney</a>, but his days as a headlining recording artist had passed. Sutliff relocated to Ohio, and in 2012 was involved in a serious auto accident. Sutliff recovered, but in 2022, he was diagnosed with cancer. He died on August 30, 2022 at the age of 66. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi