Mike Kuster releases his second studio single, “Hurt Again”, to radio on April 27, 2021. “Hurt Again” follows up to Mike’s first single “The COVID Floor” which released earlier this year.

“Hurt Again” harkens back to a Country sound that brings the past to the present. “I wrote most of this song when I was in college, but never finished it. I was listening to Johnny Cash heavily at the time. So, you can hear the influence on this song,” Mike explained.
Mike’s love for the song haunted him, as he tried to finish it to his liking. “I would pick at it now and again, but never felt like I got the end right until I was in lock down with the pandemic,” Mike says. About a year ago, something struck him, and he wrote the last part of the song.

“I just felt like I finally got it. When I played it through, my teenagers started cheering from the kitchen and asked, ‘who sang that song?’” Mike’s kids pushed him to record “Hurt Again”.

“This song always spoke to me, but that doesn’t always translate to others liking it. My teenagers, who listen to other forms of music, giving me such a response made the decision for me. So, my Johnny Cash inspired song about a man who is tired of one-night stands and wants to find true love came to be,” Mike says.

As soon as he played it for his producer, Dr. Ford, and studio musicians, they immediately picked up on the Cash vibe. Chris Condon, who plays guitar on the song, asked for a card to recreate that sound Johnny Cash used to have in those early days when he used a dollar bill or a card under his strings. “We had a lot of fun doing this and had very few takes for each of us to record our parts,” Mike recalls.

“Hurt Again” released to streaming services in March, and it has gotten a lot of great responses. The Spotify save rate is 41% since release on March 12, 2021. The lyric video for “Hurt Again” was released on April 2, 2021, and has been viewed over 32,000 times.
Mike Kuster continues to work in the studio on his first album of songs all written by Mike. Upcoming singles to be released in the near future include “Daddy’s Blue Jean Jacket” and “King of the Honky Tonk”.

During the pandemic, Mike performs acoustic sets of original songs and cover songs from home on YouTube, Facebook Watch, and IGTV. He dubbed the series “The COVID Sessions” and released a CD of some of the acoustic performances in December. During 2020, he released a video every night during the lockdown. In 2021, he goes live or releases a pre-recorded set every Wednesday evening at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Mike Kuster lives in Walkersville, Maryland with his wife and three children. He grew up on a small farm in Frederick County, Maryland. Besides writing and singing, Mike owns a small I.T. firm in Frederick, Maryland.