Music

The Covered By Music co-founder played bass on Usher’s ‘Past, Present, Future” tour.

Keithen Foster still remembers the T-Mobile side-kick phone he used to text his mentor, longtime Brian McKnight bassist Chris Loftlin, while he was in high school.

Touring kept Loftlin busy, but he made time for Foster, who was in awe of the experiences his mentor would share in their conversations.

“I remember him saying, ‘yo I’ll hit you back tomorrow, I’m about to hop on this flight and go to Tokyo,’” Foster said. “I’ m in high school in social studies class like ‘damn, that’s so cool.

“‘You get to travel all the way to Tokyo and play music and get paid for it?’ So I always had that realtime mentorship and that real-time evidence of what’s possible.”

Fast-forward to 2025, and Foster is fresh off of touring with Usher on the singer’s “Past, Present, Future” tour, which included stops in London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin.

He has also co-founded a program with fellow Berklee College of Music alum Kirjuan Freeman and Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones that promotes mentorship for aspiring local musicians.

Their foundation, Covered by Music, puts on a free music bootcamp for local youth every summer called the R.E.A.L program where kids get hand-on lessons from professional musicians like Foster.

In many ways, the program is both a labor of love and a full-circle moment for Foster. The mentee has become a mentor.

On the road with Usher

It was late January, about two weeks before the Super Bowl, when Foster received a phone call from Tony Russell.

There was a scheduling conflict. Russell is the music director for Kendrick Lamar who headlined the Super Bowl halftime show.

But, Russell also plays bass for Usher, who was about to embark on the international segment of his tour. With the Super Bowl performance looming, Russell needed someone to fill in for him.

“He was like ‘yo, bro, what’s your schedule like for the next three months?’” Foster said. “I was like ‘I’m open’. Three days later, he hit me and he was like ‘I need you to cover me for Usher.’”

Normally, Foster would have had his hands full touring with H.E.R. But, the R&B singer is working on a new album, which freed up some downtime. He was enjoying watching his children compete in sports and having some extra time to decompress.

But, this was Usher. It was a bucket-list opportunity to work with an artist he had been listening to his entire life. He had about four and a half weeks to learn a two-hour show. There were 20 shows in 56 days.

“I just listened to the music for two weeks,” Foster said. “I didn’t touch my bass, I didn’t touch my keyboard. I just let it get into my spirit so I could retain it. When I got to that third week, I put it in my Logic [software] and cut every song up.

“I went really tedious with the studying process. Nothing was foreign, it was just playing the retention game. I hadn’t played all of them, but I knew where they were going. I knew the journey of every song.”

The tour began and ended in London, where Usher played 10 shows. At first, Foster thought the band would ease into the process since they were in London for so long, but he quickly realized there wasn’t much time for that. He was glad he was prepared.

“The first day the music director was like ‘alright, let’s go to World 8, you know, different sections of the setlist. So I’m like ‘alright cool’, I look at the paper, I know exactly which songs I’m supposed to do … That click comes on in our ears and we just hit it. After that medley of like 5 or 6 songs with the arrangements, the hits, the segways, and the interludes, the director stopped and was like ‘well damn’. That was the best feeling.”

Usher’s attention to detail and habit of keeping the band on its toes stood out to Foster. From putting musicians on the spot in practice sessions to bringing out special guests whose music would have to be learned quickly, the singer ended up throwing a few curveballs.

“We got another curveball when he was in the back changing. We do a live section where it’s no tracks, straight band. He was like ‘I want to give some light to my band, bass what you got for me?’ I was like ‘whoa.’ There were a lot of those. You’ve got to be on your A-game with him. It was a great experience.”

Foster is a grammy-nominated producer. He’s been on a lot of big stages. But, the feeling of hearing Usher sing to the notes he was playing was unforgettable, he said.

“I was getting my bass ready getting ready to hop off the stage and I bent over fixing something and I felt this hand tap me on my shoulder,” Foster said. “I look up and it’s him, in the middle of the show while a dance break is going because the DJ is spinning. He’s looking at me like ‘play it’. I’m like OK. I’m on the side of the stage just jamming.

“One time he went up to the drums, and mind you, he’s supposed to be going to the back to change but he’s just vibing. Those moments are when I’m like ‘this dude is human too.’ He likes to have fun. I think it was dope to experience that and those were the moments when I was like this is really Usher vibing like this.’

Spreading knowledge to the next generation

Last month, at the R.E.A.L. program, Foster led a four-day bootcamp on songwriting, production, and performance that culminated in a live performance in front of the students’ friends and family.

Foster hired a team of educators, helped develop the program’s curriculum, and taught hand-on lessons.

“This program gave me a creative outlet and a lot more perspective on how to go about songwriting and producing, stuff like that,” student Aryanna Seerasingh said. “I’ve made music before but I wasn’t really big on producing, more songwriting.”

“But, being in this program makes me feel more connected to producing because I want to be able to put my personal touches on things. I feel like being in a program like this gives a perspective on what it’s like being in the music industry and having an outlet to express our feelings.”

He was inspired by seeing the way Coldplay gave back to a local community when he was on tour with H.E.R. overseas.

“We were in Argentina in 2023 for three and a half weeks because they wanted to tie or beat the record. We did 10 shows at the Estadio where Messi played in Argentina. I’ll never forget seeing how much community work Coldplay did.”

“When we were in the States, they weould feed 3,000 or 4,000 homeless people. Seeing how they moved business-wise inspired me to call [Freeman] while I was in the hotel. I was like ‘yo, bro, we’ve got to do something for the community.’”

The program, which just finished its second year, moved to the Tabernacle of Praise Church in Randolph, where Freeman and Foster are members.

Giving back to their local community makes them proud.

“To some, success is the big stages,” Foster said. “To me, success is doing this. And being able to do it in a town where I grew up in, it’s all full circle.”

Khari A. Thompson

Sports Reporter

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.

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