Miko Marks at the Mendocino Music Festival

Miko Marks is one of the Bay Area’s most visible country music singers, but recently her role as a Black, woman country music pioneer has gained attention. Marks, who lives in Oakland, was named one of CMT’s Next Women of Country in 2022 and recently made her third appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. The release of her third album, Our Country, in 2021, finally sent Marks through the glass ceiling in Nashville. With a blend of country music’s storytelling and elements of blues, gospel, soul, and Americana, the recording reveals Marks’ many influences. In 2019, Marks reconnected with two members of her live band, Justin Phipps and Steve Wyreman, founders of a community based recording business, Redtone Records, in East Palo Alto, and she and the Resurrectors recorded the songs of social protest and prayerful pleading that got rave reviews from Billboard and Rolling Stone.