In October 1997, the band Outworld was formed to record and perform instrumental music. In March 1998, Rusty was invited to join Shrapnel recording artists Haji's Kitchen, but had to decline due to relocation problems.

In 2000, Rusty released an instructional cd rom "Shred Guitar Manifesto" and gained endorsements with Jackson Guitars and Seymour Duncan pickups. Rusty also started doing guitar clinics as well. Rusty’s presence on the Internet was growing and his music started getting great reviews, which followed with interviews and instructional columns. His music was featured on several compellation cd’s as well. Outworld performed at the internationally acclaimed "Bang Your Head Festival" in Houston, and was featured on Robb’s Metal works a San Antonio, Texas Heavy Metal TV show. In August 2001, Rusty left Outworld and Houston to move to Alpharetta Georgia. After a short time in Georgia, two more instructional cd roms "Extreme Pentatonics" and "The Art of Picking" where released. Soon after, Rusty was asked to headline Jemfest in Orlando, Florida in 2002. Additional endorsements followed: EMG pickups, VHT Amps and Digital Music Co. In late 2002 the instrumental CD was finished and Rusty began looking for a record label. He also had a custom 8 string guitar hand made by Bill Conklin of Conklin guitars.

In 2003 some exciting events occurred and soon Rusty signed with Lion Music and the debut CD was released in January. In April, Rusty was given the honor of the "7th Fastest Shredder of all Time" in Guitar One Magazine. In May, Rusty moved back to Texas. Not wanting to be known for shred skills alone, he and Bobby Williamson reformed Outworld as a vocal band. While undergoing a number of personnel changes, Outworld recorded its self-titled debut CD which was released in late 2006 to both critical and artist acclaim. With the success of Outworld’s debut CD, and increasing notoriety in guitar circles, Rusty garnered a significant number of endorsements with Dean Guitars, EMG pickups, Diamond Amplification, Morley, Intellitouch, Rocktron, Maxon, GHS strings, VHT, Conklin, and Eventide. And 2007 saw the development and release of his Dean Signature Guitar, the RC7 Xenocide. Rusty has also been featured in Guitar Player, Guitar One, Guitar World, Guitar Techniques magazines, Axe and written his own column for Guitar Player magazine titled "Metal Guru". With a stable and impressive band lineup, Rusty is currently writing and recording Outworld’s second CD which promises to capitalize on the strengths of the debut CD and demolish all expectations. In August 2007 Outworld won 10,000 in a Famecast contest similar to American Idol where viewers watched and voted for the favorite artist.

"Remember to live, eat, sleep and breathe music for the mind, play from your heart and never be swayed by the current trends." -Rusty Cooley-