Description
ORDER Mike’s Debut Studio Album Today!
Featuring IMN’s 2021 Country Song of the Year: “Daddy’s Blue Jean Jacket”
“It’s the personal and true-to-life stories that Mike Kuster puts to song that make Better Late Than Never much more than just a local project from a local singer, even if it’s the local flavor of the songs that make them so resonant, sincere, and so distinctly country like country music is supposed to be.” SavingCountryMusic.com
I began writing this album about twenty-five years ago with one song that I just hadn’t finished until the pandemic put us in lockdown. I wrote “The COVID Floor” about my wife being a nurse assigned to one of the two floors for COVID-19 patients a few weeks into the pandemic. After that, I pulled out that old song, “Hurt Again”, that I loved, but hadn’t finished. One evening, it just came to me. The rest of this album came together over the next few months. I began sharing some demos of the songs online, and was blown away by the reception.
While my wife was on the COVID floor, I was staying in the office / guest bedroom of our house. Out of bordeom, I began looking through old things stored in the closet. I found a little safe I’d had growing up. Amazingly, I remembered the combination. Inside, I found letters my wife and I sent to each other while dating. In the first one I opened, she wrote, “I know you’ll make it in Nashville.” I had completely forgotten about this letter. That seemed like a different life, but here I was drawn to Country Music like I was then.
So, I returned to pursuing a music career that I had put on pause to raise a family all of those years ago. “Better Late Than Never” poured out of me onto paper. I played it for my kids, and they loved it. It seemed the perfect song to express where I am in life and music.
Produced by Dr. Ford
Written by Mike Kuster
Featuring:
- Mike Kuster, Vocals
- Chris Condon, Guitars
- Caleb Mundy, Bass Guitar
- Michael Cleveland, Fiddle and Mandolin
- Gary Carter, Pedal Steel on “The COVID Floor”
- Smith Curry, Pedal Steel
- Dr. Ford, Percussion, Keyboard, and Background Vocals
- Hannah Anders, Background Vocals on “Monocacy Mud”
Trigger –
“To sing country, you have to live country, and that’s what makes the music of Mike Kuster so much more meaningful. It comes with that real life, lived-in and loved aspect that you just don’t get from the antiseptic and formulaic notions of big radio singles. These are songs cut straight from life, yet give up nothing when it comes to quality and instrumentation compared to major label releases.
Better Late Than Never is aptly titled as the married father of three takes his stab at something that he’s dabbled with his entire life, but life got in the way of pursuing full time. . . ” – Saving Country Music Album Review