Rusty Willoughby

Rusty Willoughby (born June 30, 1966) is an American musician born in Staten Island and currently living in Vashon, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. As of 2011^[update], he has been vocalist, songwriter and guitarist or bass guitarist for several Seattle based bands: Pure Joy (1984–1989, 1997–2004), Flop (1990–1995), Llama (2005–2008), and Cobirds Unite (2010–). He also briefly played drums for the Fastbacks. He also played with Kurt Bloch of the Fastbacks, Jonathan Poneman (co-founder of the record label Sub Pop), and Scott Sutherland (of Seattle bands Model Rockets and Chemistry Set) in a Cheap Trick cover band called Sick Man of Europe, and appeared in the film Hype!, a documentary directed about the popularity of grunge rock.

In a 1999 review of Willoughby's self-titled solo album, Don Yates of KEXP-FM described his "Beatlesque songcraft" as "bring[ing] to mind the starker side of Elliott Smith."