Crosswind came about as Dave Marsh and I (Jim Sutton) became friends. Dave was from Pennsylvania, and was also studying for his Electronic Engineering Technology degree at LeTourneau at the same time I was. His debut of an original song was in a college sponsored talent show where Dave performed with Steve Popp. I joined them on bass and synthesizer soon after that. We did a few concert events together under the name Spirit Of Joy. We did cover songs at the time from bands like Second Chapter of Acts and Love Song and a few original songs that Dave had written, including one called Morning Star. The Spirit of Joy tape that documents that band is pretty bad from a recording quality perspective, but fun for me to hear now after all these years for the musical talent we had at that time. We continued work on more original music together and when Steve went a different direction, Dave and I added some friends from our church to the band and we called ourselves Crosswind. We all played and Dave and Carrie sang in the church worship band which is how we met and together formed Crosswind. Larry Berkley , Rocky Armstrong, Carrie Iwan and later Clay Streed became members of the band through our friendships at our church, Longview Christian Fellowship. Crosswind was not the only Christian band in the area, but we were still a novelty at the time in the east Texas area. Most music groups were gospel singer groups, so we did encounter some pushback on our music style at the time. John Adams, who also attended our church became our manager in time. He was a great support and provided crucial finances for some of our equipment that helped shape our sound. Brenda Waskowiak joined Crosswind sometime after Rocky and his family moved from the area. To the many people that enjoyed and supported Crosswind, I want to say thank you and I hope this brings back some great memories for you! For those who may not be familiar with Crosswind (that's a LOT of people), thanks for checking this website out! We are not together as a band anymore, but you can contact me (Jim Sutton) for any Crosswind related question or comment and I will get back with you if you request that. I am on Facebook, Linked In, Telegram and you can also email me at jim@suttonsonline.com.

This was one of Crosswind's earlier songs, and the first track on the cassette tape we sold or gave away at concert events. John Adams, our manager who is pictured at the sound board at Rivendell studios financed our recording experience there as I remember. Rocky Armstrong was the original drummer in the band, and did all the drums in the studio for our cassette tape release. Dave and Jim played guitars on this song, Larry was on bass and Rocky was on drums. Dave, Carrie and Clay did all the vocals.

Look Into The Skies was written by Dave Marsh. This recording was a live performance with Clay Streed on the drums, Larry Berkley on bass, Dave played guitar, I played keyboards and Dave, Carrie Iwan and brother Clay Streed did vocals. Gaming was coming on the scene at the time, so the music replicated the techno sound of the games that were out at the time. Cave, ostensibly the first computer game produced by MIT students had come to LeTourneau through student connections back in 1976, just 5 years earlier. This song played on a theme which Christians will always project when something "new" comes on the cultural scene.

One of the later songs in Crosswind's repertoire was called Merry Go Round. this was a live recording. Dave Marsh wrote the lyrics and the music. Larry Berkley was on bass, Clay Streed on drums, I was on keyboards and guitar and Carrie Iwan , Clay Streed and Dave did vocals. The band was transitioning after former drummer Rocky Armstrong moved to the D/FW area of Texas. This was one of the songs that came out of that transitional period. this was one of those songs were Dave and I got to play lead guitar together, then Dave takes off with a killer lead while I go back to the keyboards. 

Teach Me Lord was written by Brenda Waskowiak. The recording has technical issues (low level hum/buzz) unfortunately, and was recorded at a live Crosswind event. Brenda sang this song many times and I never grow tired of it. To this day the song goes through my mind from time to time and I remember my reaction as well as the audience's reaction to its message and haunting, repetitive melody. This song was probably one of the ones we heard before Brenda was a part of Crosswind that piqued our interest in playing music and concert events with her and her husband Dean - that's why I'm including it even though the recording quality suffers. This song was written at the time when Keith Green was still alive and based near Lindale, TX, which was near enough that we would sometimes attend a Friday night Bible Study at the Brown's house. Leonard Ravenhill held a bible study and prayer meeting there which was often attended by Keith Green and his ministry staff, Annie Herring and her sister Nellie and brother Matthew along with members of Agape Force. This song fits right in with those times and the passion and love for Jesus that was there in many of the people that lived in that part of East Texas.

This song was written by Sam (Leslie) Philips and was originally released on the Beyond Saturday Night album. Crosswind covered the song - this track was recorded live. After Rocky had left the group and Clay got up to speed on the drums with our repertoire, we heard about Brenda Waskowiak, or she heard about us - and we talked about doing music together. Brenda had a repertoire of original songs and several cover songs (including this one) that all of us in Crosswind thought were well aligned with our mission in playing music. Her husband was attending LeTourneau which is where we all met. This was a live concert that was probably one of the first ones where we combined our musical talents and her gifted songs. I loved the heart that Brenda had on and off stage. Her lyrics and music communicated a passion for Jesus that was authentic. Her husband Dean was our sound man and it is his efforts that gave us the gift of being able to listen to what we were playing back then. Clay was on the drums, Larry on the bass, Dave on guitar and I played all keyboards. Brenda was the lead vocal on this song.

Another live recording of one of our concert events. Brenda Waskowiak wrote this song and it always touched a place deep within my soul. The song clarified where my heart needed to be when playing music before an audience. Brenda was on the piano, Dave played acoustic guitar and I played keyboards on this song. The vocals were Brenda, Dave, Carrie and Clay. To me their voices were angelic on this song. The tape had issues at the end, so I patched in another recording of Brenda playing this song solo near the end where the original recorded tape was messed up for when Crosswind backed her up on this song. Love the ending of this song where Brenda hits the high note, and my spirit does fly on that note!