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photo by steed media service
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Recording Artist, It Feels Good
Miko Marks once drove a beat-up Chevy Nova 18 hours from Louisiana to
Flint, Mich., to perform in front of 20 people at her mother’s church.
Though Flint was her birthplace, Marks will tell you her being African
American and embracing country music came from her days in Louisiana at
Grambling State University, where country music was played in excess
and she was an Northern girl blown away by the powerful storytelling in
the lyrics of the artists.
Last year, Marks made her grand introduction to the country music
mainstream with her debut album, Freeway Bound. In what almost seemed
like seconds, Marks was named “Female Vocalist of the Year,” by Indie
World in Nashville and at the praise of awards judge and country icon,
Wynonna Judd, she took home the “Country Album of the Year,” at the
Independent Music Awards in Montclair, N.J.
When asked what an African American woman is doing playing country and
how she deals with criticism, Marks, like her lyrics, is sincere. “I
have to be honest . [I’ll] stay rooted and grounded in what I’m doing
because I believe in it wholeheartedly,” she says.
Mark’s also believes her new album, It Feels Good, and the recent boom
of African American country stars will alter the mind-set that country
and African Americans don’t mix.
“That’s the misconception, but I think that only stems from not having
much representation and now that the doors are finally opening on that
level, [country is a] whole other place to be,” she says. – gavin p. godfrey
For more information, visit www.mikomarks.com.
