Beyond the process of writing, producing and recording, Miko Marks’ favorite part of being a musician is performing live. At 8:15 p.m. tonight, Marks will return to the Ampitheater stage to do just that — blending R&B, gospel and country into her Americana sound for Chautauqua audiences.
“I’ve learned to put myself right smack down in the middle of my delivery. So when people hear me, they are hearing my heart,” Marks said.
From the earliest days of singing in her church choir in Flint, Michigan, Marks witnessed the power of song. At age 6, Marks felt jarred by churchgoers crying and fainting in response to the music.
“The reaction kind of made me back away, … but I learned over life and my connection to my spirituality how to tap into that and give that to people,” Marks said.
She sees music as a vessel for her spirituality and personal experience. While drawing inspiration from her mother, an unwavering freedom fighter, and her grandmother, a curator of a variety of music, Marks said her music has developed over the course of her life.
“I’m not the starry-eyed girl that I used to be when I first started out in the 2000s,” she said. “I want my music to leave an impact as far as what I’m talking about.”
At the beginning of her career, artists of color were few and far between in country music. Now, as Marks witnesses an upsurge of new voices across social media and the music world, she feels hopeful for the sprawling future of the genre.
“I’m just seeing all of these younger artists pick up the torch and run with it. There’s so many people of color doing Americana music now, whereas when I was starting out, there were not,” Marks said.
Forging a path into country music, Marks developed a sound that combined the influences of gospel music to singers such as Roberta Flack, Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton. Considering herself a “hot bed” of such influences, Marks finds liberation in the amalgam of the Americana genre.
“I don’t have to tap into one thing. It just kind of comes out as a colorful and natural thing,” Marks said.
Marks channels her mixtures of influences into her most recent album with her band The Resurrectors, titled Feel Like Going Home, and her single “Let the Music Get Down in Your Soul” released in May 2025.
When looking to the future, Marks hopes that the honesty and vulnerability she poured into her songs echo for listeners no matter when they encounter her music.
“I want to make sure that I’m on target to be my authentic self and that’s what people take from the records and what I have coming out,” Marks said.
Marks, who performed at Chautauqua in 2023, looks forward to returning to the Amp stage and sharing in the experience of deliverance, vulnerability and joy in the performance. As she finds herself revitalized by performance, she hopes Chautauquans will feel the same.
“Music is healing,” Marks said. “So whatever is troubling you — let music be the salve.”
