Miko Marks has spent much of her career bringing country, gospel, blues, and soul into the same room. On her new single, “Hell or High Water,” she turns those roots toward something deeply personal.
The title track from Marks’ forthcoming album, Hell Or High Water, looks back on years marked by loss and enormous change, including the deaths of her mother and sister and the end of her 29-year marriage. Rather than sidestepping any of it, Marks focuses on what has helped her keep going.
“I lost my way and tried to drown my sadness and grief to no avail,” Marks says. “Depression kicked in and isolation was becoming a friend. Through support and help, I was able to climb out of a self-imposed misery and find my joy again.”
That history gives some of the song’s imagery a particularly personal meaning. The “stone in my pocket” represents the wisdom and inner strength Marks carries with her, while the spirits surrounding her are the ancestors and loved ones who remain a source of encouragement.
“Perseverance could be my middle name,” she explains. “Despite my willingness to give up, I have not.”
“Hell or High Water” also points toward the sound of the album to come. Marks leans further into the blues on the record, not as a dramatic change of direction, but as another piece of a musical vocabulary that has been with the Flint, Michigan native throughout her life.
“Blues is a part of who I am,” Marks says. “It’s woven into my upbringing, my experiences, and my musical journey.”
Produced and co-written with longtime collaborator Justin Phipps, Hell Or High Water follows August single “Death Rolls Like Thunder” and moves through loss, grief, injustice, uncertainty, healing, and the search for a way forward without pretending any of those things are easily resolved.
For Marks, that seems to be the point. “Hell or High Water” isn’t about emerging untouched. It’s about carrying what you’ve learned, who you’ve lost, and what remains with you into whatever comes next.
Hell Or High Water arrives October 30 via Redtone Records.
Listen to “Hell or High Water today:
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