Defining success
That momentum is part of what makes it all possible for Sutton, who continues to follow a course he set off on as a teenager.
“I always said, man, if I stop I don’t think I’ll ever do it,” he said. “I have not stopped since I started playing music in high school.”
With the age of 40 on the horizon, Sutton has also seen enough success as a musician where he didn’t feel compelled to pull the plug on the milestone age of 30.
“That was the big age with all my musician friends,” he said. “Like, ‘If we don’t make it by 30 it’s all over.’ And we all surpassed 30 and are getting close to 40.”
It’s all about how one measures success, Sutton said.
“For me to be able to do it and progress, that’s the only thing,” he said. “As long as I’m moving forward with my music, getting better shows and getting out there, that’s success. And I think a lot of times, people kind of stop for a little bit and say, ‘I’m going to stop, have kids and get back into it,’ and then they never get back into it.”
Such has not been the case for Sutton, who is married and a father of a 7-month-old boy named Elliott, is the Director of Media Education at Woodstock Day School, and until budget cuts tightened belts at SUNY New Paltz, was an adjunct professor teaching a course called Education of the Self. To say Sutton is keeping busy would be a gross understatement, but he credits his wife, Catherine Woods-Sutton, with helping him be able to keep the Ratboy empire afloat: as long as his wife is able to take a few yoga classes each week, the scheduling generally works itself out.
As for Ratboy and Ratboy Jr., the hope is to keep growing, building their fanbase and carry on making both grownups and kids happy.
“So far it’s been very organic,” Sutton said. “We’re so lucky to be doing what we love.”
