Not too long after this, I became very intrigued with Rastafari lifestyle and culture. When I was a very young man I would see Rasta with massive, thick, long dreads walking around Santa Cruz, but not understanding what they could and should represent almost gave them a "blackheart man" (a hooligan) status in my mind, which was pure young ignorance on my part. Once I began falling in love with that culture, I started to befriend many Rasta brethren. I began to grow my beard and threw the comb away and let my hair lock up. I was reading The Bible everyday at the time. I was exercising regularly. I also started to become a vegetarian and eventually a vegan. I didn't smoke marijuana at that time but I did take a self imposed hiatus from touring and stayed home and wrote many spiritual compositions. I had a lot of inspiration during those years. When I write a spiritual song however, I write for God The Almighty. I like to let the listener interpret the message in his or her own way. I like to be ambiguous about my faith so that my music can be loved by the Muslim, the Christian, the Hindu, the Rasta, whomever. It doesn't matter to me. It all leads to the same source which is love.
In 2006 I started working on a CD entitled "Reggaeblue". I was backed by three Jamaican greats on the project; Fully Fullwood, Tony Chin and Santa Davis of the legendary Soul Syndicate band. There was even a music video from the release that has garnered nearly 800,000 views so far. This CD expressed my spiritual awakening but there was also some Romantic Reggae vibes for the ladies. The CD received a glowing review in The Beat publication by none other than the great Reggae radio dj and journalist Chuck Foster but had absolutely no promotion due to the record label's neglect.
In 2009 I found myself on a plane en route to Kingston, Jamaica. I was manifesting a dream in going to the birth place of the music that was so dear to my heart to record a new CD with some of the greatest architects of the music. I stayed there for two weeks. I was accompanied by the great drummer Sly Dunbar, Boris Gardiner on bass, Robbie Lyn on keys, the legendary Scully Simms on percussion and my brethren Mikey "Mao" Chung on guitar, who also spearheaded the whole session and was instrumental in convincing me to come down to Jamaica to record. When we laid down the first track, I was so nervous. I felt like I was 18 again when I first performed onstage for an audience with my knees knocking together. After the
first song was recorded I went outside to get some fresh air as I was so nervous about being in Kingston and recording my songs with these heavyweights. Sly was already outside and he looked at me and smiled and asked me who had composed that song! When I told him it was mine he just said, "Wicked! Rusty mi nah never know you sing so wicked.” Sly knew me a little from when I would see Sly & Robbie perform in the San Francisco Bay Area but I think he just knew me as Mikey's brethren and didn't even know I was performer. Anyway, he put me at ease and gave me the strength to go back into the studio to finish the session with confidence. The result of this session is my current CD release entitled "Manifestation.”
When I came back home from Jamaica, I started preparing for my upcoming show at the prestigious Sierra Nevada World Music Festival. I was given the opening slot for the whole three day weekend event. A tough slot but I made some fans nonetheless and made a big impression on the promoter Warren Smith. During this time I was
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