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MIKO MARKS THE SPOT: African American singer wants to kick in country music's door.
*On August 13th a black woman named Miko Marks sang the National Anthem as part of the pre-game festivities for a preseason show down between the San Francisco 49ers and the Denver Broncos.
While the game itself may not have counted for much, the opportunity to perform on national television certainly meant a lot to country music singer Miko Marks.
Marks is attempting to do something that has never been done before. She is trying to become the first commercially successful female African American country singer. Have you heard of her? It's likely that you have not unless you happened upon her at a small country music venue or while she was out on tour with the Bill Picket Rodeo. Our Lee Bailey had the chance to sit down with Marks and the first thing on his mind was "Why country music?"
"At first, I would say I don't know," admitted Marks. "But the thing about it is I started writing my own songs and when I would show them to people they would say 'Oh, well that sounds country' or 'that sounds folk-country' or 'soul country.' Country was always in the midst of people's comments and I said: 'Oh, well why not do something that's naturally coming out of me instead of forcing myself into a genre that may not be a comfortable fit?"
Fitting in is something that is essential for commercial success in the entertainment industry. Often times if a record exec cannot place an artist into a promotional 'box' that artist is likely to fail, but Marks isn't concerned about that. She knew what she wanted to be a long time ago.
"I attended Grambling State University in the early 90s and I started listening to a lot of the back woods radio stations and I found myself drawn to the storytelling of the music. So I thought I had some stories of my own that I would like to share and maybe I should start writing my own songs. I picked up the guitar and taught myself to play and country came out of that whole working process."
Though the process of honing her craft has been a fruitful one, Marks' rise in the country music business is still in the works. EUR asked Miko what is her course of action to overcome the inherent adversity her task contains.
"There has never been an African American female country artist that has been commercially successful over the years," said Marks. "We've had attempts such as Charlie Pride and he's a male. So I'm really not focused in on the fact that I'm black, but I'm going to make good music that is heart felt and accepted by people across boundries."
Though Marks is singing country music, a genre that traditionally has very few black patrons, she says she is up to the task of winning them over.
"That's the cool thing about it. I tour around with the Bill Picket Rodeo and it's the only African American touring rodeo. We've toured from Washington, D.C. to Montana to Alabama to Arizona with the rodeo and I perform. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I sell out all of my CDs everytime I perform before the African American community. Everybody is really on board and they might come with comments like 'Oh, well you know I don't really like country music, but I like your country music.' Well, my country music is the same. So, it's really that they are happy to have a representation now and they have been so supportive."
Country music is as distinctly an American born product as Rhythm and Blues. Another trait they share is the fact that they were both heavily influenced by the Blues. Despite them having similar roots, the respective audiences of the two genres are of two different demographics. Our Lee Bailey asked Marks whether her attempt at wooing those from different cultural backgrounds other than her own has caused any friction.
"I have to say that I have run into hints of racism, but nothing out right blatant or harmful," said Marks. "The type of racism I've experience is like (this). Say I'll be doing a show at a country club. And the oldest gentleman there was maybe 70 years old. He's standing there with his arms folded and he was just mad. He wasn't understanding what's going on. But after I finished singing Patsy Cline he's shaking his head in giving me a nod of approval. He came up and congratulated me for the wonderful job I had done. So I can see the music is already transcending some barriers. (Now I can say) even if you don't like 'black people' that song was still pretty good, huh? I've more so brought people over than experienced any negativity."
Marks looks to continue bringing people over. Her debut album was titled "Freeway Bound" and has already been named the "2007 Country Album of the Year" at the Independent Music Awards where Wynonna Judd and Patty Loveless were judges. She was also named "Best New Country Artist" by New Music Weekly Magazine.
Her new CD "It Feels Good" was released on August 21st. The lead single is titled "The Son My Daddy Never Had" and it is doing some major damage on the charts. Still trying to understand what's going on? Go to MikoMarks.com and see for yourself.
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