Latest / The Scene Projects / Mike Kuster on George Jones' Bus, Josie Awards, and Opry Memories

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Mike Kuster on George Jones' Bus, Josie Awards, and Opry Memories · The Scene Projects

• 0:28
  Did you all end up with George Jones' bus?
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  This is angelcarsusa.org.
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  So Okay.
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  Bus.
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  So Michael Jan is the founder.
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  He's the owner of the bus.
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  He's had it for a few years.
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  We were fortunate enough that needed some it needs some service Yeah.
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  On the mechanical parts.
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  And I get to be the guy to kinda be the liaison in that process.
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  Right?
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  So yeah.
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  Go ahead.
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  Walk through and take a look, man.
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  I'm gonna follow you with one of the cameras here and let you get a live reaction.
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  Yeah.
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  So this is a 1995.
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  So obviously at the end of George's career, right, or towards the towards the back end, I
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  would say.
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  The man kept playing until he done.
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  They're really built to be his personal space on the road and just a custom one of one.
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  There's not another one on the planet like this as you can tell.
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  Yeah.
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  Back in the back in the nineties, Tanya Tucker had me on a bus.
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  It was a loner.
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  She hated it.
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  She's like, this is not mine.
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  Put Right.
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  In the mess.
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  This thing is terrible.
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  Right.
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  This is, this is probably what she wanted, what she was used to.
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  Well, welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host Bubba Starts, and we're here for our special series on the bus.
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  With me today is Mike Custer.
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  Mike, welcome to the show, man.
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  Thanks a lot.
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  Thanks for
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  having me.
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  Yeah.
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  This is amazing.
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  This is awesome.
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  Pretty awesome.
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  Yeah.
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  I I couldn't agree more.
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  It's been an awesome, awesome weekend here at the Josie's as well hanging out at the Grand
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  Ole Opry.
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  We got to meet on the red carpet.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  You picked up a couple of nominations this year.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Best country male artist, I think is what it was called, and male country song of the year.
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  Didn't win, but Right. It
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  It was my first time.
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  Yeah.
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  You know, when when I heard how many nominations there were and how many
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  submissions, over 86,000 submissions, right, just to get a nomination is a huge deal.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  To be a winner is obviously an amazing accomplishment and a feat, but just to be
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  nominated is something.
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  And that's
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  what I trying to tell, you know, a good friend of mine, Tyler Herwig, as well as, look, buddy.
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  I know you're disappointed, but still a pretty big deal.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Pretty huge deal.
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  And to pick I mean, I think he had five nominations.
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  Yeah.
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  That means something.
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  Right.
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  So, Mike, where are you from?
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  I am from Frederick, Maryland.
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  There you go.
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  Not a lot of cowboys in Maryland, I imagine.
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  Well, we're a lot of horses, but not a lot of cowboys.
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  A lot of race horses.
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  Right.
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  But, yeah, my my dad and I grew up cutting horses and Incredible.
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  Yeah.
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  So we would break
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  horses.
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  Race horsing scene?
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  Yeah.
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  No.
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  We were not race horses.
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  We were Right.
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  We were cutting horses and rodeo stuff.
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  So we were on the outliers, but we would green break horses for people.
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  So there's a lot of people that have pleasure horses in Maryland.
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  And so we would break them.
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  Yeah.
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  I don't think a lot of people would think of Maryland as horse country.
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  Yeah.
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  We actually have the second largest population of horses in The US.
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  Incredible.
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  Yeah.
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  Second to who?
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  Kentucky, of course.
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  Of course.
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  Of course.
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  Yeah.
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  So we have Pimlico Race Course and Okay.
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  Yeah.
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  I'm not a big race horse.
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  Obviously, no big derby.
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  Crown races.
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  Yeah.
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  We are we are the second of the triple crown.
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  Yeah.
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  Incredible.
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  What a so obviously, that kinda raises you in country music most of your life, I would
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  imagine.
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  Yeah.
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  Country folk.
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  Yep.
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  I grew up cleaning stalls and listening to country music on the radio in the barn.
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  Good times, man.
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  Good times.
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  So when did you start playing music?
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  Oh, when I was when I was a real little kid, my dad had a friend who had a band called Benny
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  Dean and the Black Jacks.
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  And he played at my dad's best friend's wedding, and I I must have been three, maybe
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  four, but I just remember watching this fiddle player up there and Benny Dean singing.
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  And I said, that's what I wanna do.
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  I wanna I wanna play the fiddle and sing.
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  So as soon as I could, I went to school and said, I wanna learn to play the fiddle.
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  And they said, well, we'll teach you to play the violin.
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  So that's when I started.
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  And, of course, I started singing in the choir at church, like so many people do.
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  So Yeah.
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  My parents drug me to choir rehearsals and practices practices and and listened to me
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  squeaking away on the violin.
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  And
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  A really great instrument when done right, but I imagine those early years, right, are hard
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  for any parent to kinda get through.
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  But, obviously, they saw some potential and saw your passion for it at an early age.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  And I started writing music when I was six or seven.
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  So it was just in you?
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  Yeah.
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  It
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  was in you.
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  Incredible.
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  Yeah.
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  So
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  And now here we are just a few short years
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  now.
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  Right.
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  Just a few years later.
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  Yeah.
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  When I was when I was 18, I was in a band, and then my now wife, who was my girlfriend at the
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  time, we decided we're not going to go to Nashville because everybody we met and knew
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  that came down here was getting divorced.
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  They never saw their kids.
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  It was just I said, wanna be with you and be with the kids.
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  So I stayed at home and made a life in Frederick, Maryland.
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  And when the pandemic hit, my kids were listening to the music because I was sitting at
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  home just playing music all the time.
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  I said, why don't you release any of this?
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  This is really good.
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  So
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  Very cool.
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  I did.
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  Shout out to the kids for giving you a push.
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  That's incredible.
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  My kids are great.
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  They're now they're 23 and 21.
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  And
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  Right.
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  So out of the house now, you may be probably have a little more time
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  on your hands.
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  Yeah.
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  Well,
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  at least they
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  can feed themselves.
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  Right?
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  Probably still coaching them into doing their own laundry.
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  But
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  Yes.
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  No.
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  They're great.
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  And they they come to a lot of shows and
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  Incredible.
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  Listen
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  to my music and give me feedback.
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  To you to have the kids there with you
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  and really
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  pushing you along and and providing that motivation to not just, you know, do it, but to
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  keep doing it.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  And I I had really put all that music behind me for years.
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  And when they were pushing me, I'd found a it was COVID, so I was going through all this
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  crap.
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  I couldn't do anything else.
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  So I found a a little box that I had that was locked, and I couldn't believe.
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  I remember the combination.
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  I opened it up, and it was full of letters that my wife and I had sent to each other when we
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  were in high school.
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  Know?
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  Really?
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  Passing notes.
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  And there was one in there I opened up and read, and it said, I know you're gonna make it
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  in Nashville, and you're gonna take me on tour with you when you go.
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  And I said, I think she's talking to me thirty years later.
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  Right.
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  Oh, what an incredible story.
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  Yeah.
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  It's a song right there.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  Yeah.
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  And now here we sit on a a bus that spent plenty of time on the road, obviously, touring
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  around with George.
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  And Yeah.
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  You know, you had the experience, not just the red carpet, but the whole show and hearing your
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  name called at the Grand Ole Opry.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Tell us a little bit about, you know, your your experience here because I was just covering it.
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  I wasn't a nominee or anything.
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  So a little bit different experience for me.
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  Just as awesome.
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  Right?
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  Right.
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  In every single way, we worked our tails off on that red
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  carpet.
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  Yeah.
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  Talking to as many people as we could because it's important to you to get that moment.
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  Right?
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  I felt
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  bad that there were some people that we couldn't get to at the end of the day because
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  everyone deserves that time on that carpet, and this is your time to shine.
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  And I think that's really what the Josie's are about is giving everyone that time to speak on
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  stage, to enjoy being in that circle
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  Right.
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  Iconic circle, and, yeah, just just getting it done.
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  So Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Awesome, Mike.
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  Yeah.
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  Hold on.
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  I think we got another artist to get in.
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  Yeah.
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  This is how this rolls here.
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  Alright.
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  There we are.
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  We're in the middle of an interview now, but step on in.
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  Come on.
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  You can sit up front while me and Mike are talking.
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  Yeah.
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  No worries.
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  Close the door.
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  I don't wanna interrupt.
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  You're all good, man.
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  Thank you.
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  Hey.
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  Shout out to Rudy Gunn.
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  Josie, award winner.
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  Nice to meet you.
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  Popping in on the bus.
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  I'm gonna sit over here.
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  Yeah, man.
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  I think you should be out of the shop most of the way there.
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  That's all good.
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  This is how it is on the bus.
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  Right?
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  We're having a traditional studio setting, so we get to kinda hang out and enjoy it.
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  Thanks for the coffee, sir.
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  I appreciate that.
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  It was a long night.
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  So for everyone watching at home, we had we had found a parking spot for this that we thought
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  it was gonna be good for a few days, paid for the parking.
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  And last night, I got a knock on the door about 01:30AM.
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  Security, I'm going, what the hell, man?
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  We weren't even partying outside of it like we were with Rudy the night before.
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  And they're like, yeah, you can't sleep in here.
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  You gotta get a hotel room.
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  And I was like, man, your rooms are $500 a night.
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  I can't afford that.
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  Yeah.
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  And they're like, well, actually, the hotel's full anyway, so you gotta move the bus.
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  And I was like, well, I don't drive the bus.
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  I didn't drive the bus here.
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  I didn't drive the bus to this spot.
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  Well, it's gonna get towed then.
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  Well, that's not an option either.
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  Right?
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  So we I jumped up.
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  I nutted up to the table here and got her done.
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  Right?
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  I didn't have to drive it far, thankfully, and I had a big parking lot to whip it around in.
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  But now I can put bus driver on the resume, Mike.
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  Right.
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  That's right.
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  You can do it.
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  Well, you couldn't make this shit up, guys.
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  I'm telling you.
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  It's been a wild journey, and meeting you, Mike, has been a part of it as well.
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  So, yeah, we were talking about your experience as a nominee of the Joe season getting out
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  there and, you know, the feeling of sitting there, hearing your name called over the
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  loudspeakers.
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  Like, just take us through a little bit of your journey from, you know, showing up at the Opry
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  on Sunday evening and through the the end of the night.
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  Well, yeah, since it was my first time, I didn't know what to expect.
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  So it it's certainly exciting to be at the Grand Ole Opry, and that is a that's an iconic
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  iconic place, and it's a place that's embraced all sorts of music.
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  So it was great for the Josies to be recognizing independent artists of all genres,
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  and we're all there to celebrate music.
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  We all love music.
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  So to be there, to sit in the audience I don't come to Nashville and not go to the Grand Ole
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  Opry, but to be there and actually be there to be part of it It's different.
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  Yeah.
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  Right.
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  This is my first time in Nashville.
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  Okay.
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  And I've I've said for weeks now, like, somebody pinched me.
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  This is
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  a dream.
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, do I end up on this bus Right.
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  In this building, not just here to enjoy the show, but to be part of the show.
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  Yeah.
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  And I think that what the scene projects brought was a big part of the show.
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  Getting to do the interviews and, you know, especially collecting all the autographs.
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  I thought it
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  was a nice touch and idea that I had.
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  And then to see it in real time being something.
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  Because who doesn't like, you know, as an independent artist, not a lot of people are
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  asking for your autograph.
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  Right.
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  You know, I think Rudy told me that it it would devalue the piece of paper that it was on, but
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  I don't believe that's true because now we have over a 100 artists that have signed that piece
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  of paper, and all of these people are on the rise Yeah.
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  And are winning awards and are being nominated and having their name called at the Opry.
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  It's just and really, it was a way for me to just keep track of how many interviews I did
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  Right. Without
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  Without having
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  to keep tabs and keep the counter in my pocket and keep going.
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  So pretty incredible experience.
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  And to to be a part of it is something special.
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  Yeah.
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  Absolutely.
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  Yeah.
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  Yes.
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  So, Mike, what's coming up for you now, man?
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  I I know you had a ton of music, and you're recording more releasing.
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  So what's coming up next for Mike Custer?
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  I just got out of the studio.
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  We just finished two new songs, so they'll come out in '26.
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  We've got I'm
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  gonna
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  be in Richmond, Virginia in two weeks, then Harpers Ferry, West Virginia later in November,
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  then we'll take a break for a few months.
• 11:50
  Yeah.
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  So you gig pretty regularly during the summer months Yeah.
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  To try to get out there while the weather's nice.
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  Yes.
• 11:55
  I know the Northeast
• 11:56
  is much like the Upper Midwest that, you know, travel becomes little touch and go.
• 12:00
  So booking too far out through the months of December through February is a little a little
• 12:05
  hectic.
• 12:06
  I I I don't like canceling shows, so I just kind of fare better not booking a whole lot
• 12:10
  at that time.
• 12:11
  Yeah.
• 12:12
  Yeah.
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  So we won't really get started until March, late March.
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  Come down south and do a little spring break tour
• 12:18
  or something.
• 12:19
  Yeah.
• 12:21
  Then we're we're off every week.
• 12:23
  We're we're off to another place every weekend.
• 12:26
  Incredible, man.
• 12:27
  Well, I wanna thank you so much for being a part of the show on the bus here and being a
• 12:32
  part of the Josie's.
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  It was just an incredible experience.
• 12:34
  It was nice to meet you out there on the red carpet.
• 12:36
  Why don't you tell everybody how they can find you online and how you stream your music?
• 12:40
  Yeah.
• 12:40
  I'm at Mike Custer, that's custerwithak,.instagram, Spotify, everywhere.
• 12:48
  YouTube.
• 12:49
  YouTube is youtube.com/@mikecuster.
• 12:52
  So Fantastic.
• 12:53
  Lots of videos.
• 12:54
  Videos of me and the band playing official music videos and all my music.
• 12:59
  That's great.
• 13:00
  Well, this is, Josie nominee, Mike Custer.
• 13:04
  I am Bubba Starts.
• 13:05
  You've been on the bus, and this is the scene projects.
• 13:08
  Mike, I wanna thank for being part of the scene.
• 13:10
  Thank you, Bubba.