Last month Oakland vocalist Miko Marks made her fourth appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, a sign of both her ascending visibility and the changing landscape at the very heart of country music.<\/p>\n
Part of a wave of Black women who have made serious inroads into a scene widely associated with red-state America, the former Nashville resident is reveling in her new-found acceptance.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo\u00a0do my style of music on that stage is remarkable,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really opened up to more than country music, from traditional country to Americana and now blues.\u201d<\/p>\n
In many ways Marks\u2019 creative journey tracks the Grand Ole Opry\u2019s expanding purview but in fast forward. She started her career as a straight-up country singer, but in moving back to the Bay Area her sound evolved in a soulful Americana direction.<\/p>\n
At her Yoshi\u2019s debut as a headliner April 15 Marks is introducing a set of new songs inspired by the blues, \u201cbringing together all of my influences,\u201d she said. It\u2019s the first gig in an unusual monthly residency at the storied Jack London Square club that runs through the end of the summer.<\/p>\n
Blues and R&B run in the Marks family. She noted that the popular, single-monikered 1970s vocalist Latimore is a cousin. Her new album features original songs co-written with guitarist and harmonica player Justin Phipps, who\u2019s produced her releases on East Palo Alto-based Redtone Records.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been influenced by a lot of different styles, not just country and not just gospel,\u201d she said. \u201cI did a lot classical in high school. I\u2019m in my early 50s. I\u2019m not a one-trick pony. I\u2019ve lived.\u201d<\/p>\n
In exploring the blues, Marks is less interested in 21st-century iterations of the tradition than in delving into the music\u2019s matriarchal roots. She sees the art form as a vehicle for exploring timeless struggles and topical concerns, and her songs \u201creally speaks to the times,\u201d she said, \u201cwhile harkening back to 1920s. I wanted to pay tribute to Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, the women who came before me.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Yoshi\u2019s she\u2019s performing with her four-piece band led by Phipps and three young women backup vocalists who\u2019ve been singing together since they were in at Oakland School for the Arts. She\u2019s invited 84-year-old bluesman Wilbert Freeman McAlister as a special guest. He\u2019s been performing at the historic blues joint Eli\u2019s Mile High Club in recent years, but the rancher is better known as the former president of the Oakland Black Cowboy Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s homegrown,\u201d Marks said.<\/p>\n
She returns to Yoshi\u2019s on May 21 with special guest Faye Carol, the veteran Berkeley jazz and blues vocalist who\u2019s mentored generations of musicians over the decades, from piano star Benny Green to her current prot\u00e9g\u00e9, pianist Joe Warner.<\/p>\n
Carol has featured Marks at several of the showcases she and Warner have produced, most recently at the Black Women\u2019s Roots Festival at The Freight last November. \u201cFaye is a dear mentor and a beautiful soul who does a lot in the community for the children,\u201d Marks said. \u201cShe\u2019s an unsung hero of mine.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks hasn\u2019t yet announced special guests for her Yoshi\u2019s dates on June 29, July 29, and August 27, but she\u2019s looking to make the most of the spotlight. In recent years her powerhouse voice and commanding stage presence have led to numerous gigs opening for better known acts, particularly at Menlo Park\u2019s Guild Theatre, where she led off for the Latin rock band Ozomatli last month.<\/p>\n
The venue\u2019s talent buyer, Tom Hoppa, is a music business veteran dedicated to developing artists. He heard about Marks from colleagues on the Guild team when he took over booking the theater in early 2025. He put her on a bill and she made a vivid first impression.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018What an incredible artist! Why isn\u2019t she a huge star?\u2019\u201d Hoppa said. \u201cIt\u2019s so much about luck that contributes to an artist\u2019s overall success, notoriety and fame. Miko is an insanely talented musician who can cover a lot of different styles and genres. I\u2019m putting her on as many shows as I can, exposing her to many different types of audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks is also slated to perform Aug. 28 and 29 at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley.<\/p>\n
For Marks, the blues isn\u2019t about lamentation. It\u2019s her latest vehicle for overcoming pain while taking audiences to a better place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been through quite a few hard times, and music has become my therapy and healing space, how I connect to spirit,\u201d she said. \u201cI sing my way through anxiety and fear and I\u2019m trying to bring that to the people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Andrew Gilbert at\u00a0jazzscribe@aol.com.<\/p>\n
MIKO MARKS<\/p>\n
When & where: 7:30 p.m. April 15 and May 21 at Yoshi\u2019s in Oakland<\/p>\n
Tickets: $25-$49; www.yoshis.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month Oakland vocalist Miko Marks made her fourth appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, a sign of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[967,181,971,330,143,145,144,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-266444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-latest-headlines","10":"tag-lifestyle","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-oakland","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}