The Wall Street Journal has described it as a “genre and industry-defying mission.” NPR declared it a “multilayered experience.” The New York Times commended the movement as carving out a new path in country music. All tell the story of Miko Marks’ resurgence as she deftly blends country, blues, southern rock and even gospel to create a sound and experience that has literally brought every audience to its feet. This new sound along with her warm and soulful spirit catapulted her into a community of change with her doing more than breaking ground - she’s shattering it. It’s a serendipitous realization that Marks was meant to be here, at this time, in this moment, for good.

After releasing her critically-acclaimed album, Our Country (via Redtone Records) in March 2021, Marks dove head first into an industry that previously never fully embraced her. She closed out 2021 with her EP release, Race Records, which shined a light on the arbitrary divisions forced upon artists and audiences in the early days of music marketing in the 1940s. In January of this year, Marks was named to CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2022 and by April, she stood alongside five other artists and managers chosen to participate in the inaugural Equal Access Development Program, a program designed by mtheory and CMT to foster and support marginalized communities underrepresented in the genre of country music. Now more than ever, the change needed is beginning to come to fruition; a change Marks feared she wouldn’t bear witness to in her existence: “I get emotional around it, because I didn’t think I would see any of this in my lifetime,” Marks says.

Nearly one year after the release of Our Country, Marks released the first single, “Feel Like Going Home” (March 25, 2022) from her forthcoming project of the same name, due this fall.

The lyrics sing, “Rest for the wanderer who never more shall roam.” For Marks, the time to

reclaim her roots that were planted long ago is now; a powerful reconnection that can be felt in every note. No longer a wanderer, Marks has returned to her true self after years of trying to figure out her place in the world and in her first true love: music.

Feel Like Going Home is an amalgamation of where Marks has been and where she is going. What she has learned and what she wants to teach. It’s an innermost look at the ebb and flow of her past, present and future. It’s the stories she wants to tell but hasn’t been able to speak into existence ever before. The messages are profound: healing, restoration and distinctly individual. Feel Like Going Home will be released on October 14, 2022.

Kristina Train quietly blows up our expectations. On her deceptively straightforward albums, you hear Kristina relaxed, her songwriting clear. Her voice mid-flight, saying what she means to say. There is bounty here, a pinch of wise vinegar; baleful truths and blossoms spilling perfume. For the categorically-minded, what are we listening to? Americana? Something approaching “Chamber Folk?” “Blues Pop?” “Gritty” double-dapping “pretty?” I honestly don’t know and for once, uncharacteristically, I don’t need closure.

We met, gosh, some time ago? She was supposed to be a person named “Christine,” but she wasn’t. It’s a long story, man. Point being, the band and I were, like, who is this singer amongst ladies?! Many treks through the Humanities later we have Spilt Milk, Dark Black, Rayon City, We the People, and Body Pressure.

She has a way of keeping us guessing. Growing up in Savannah, Georgia with some time in New Jersey thrown in, she started playing violin at age three. Although her origins were heavily embedded in symphonic music, she released her debut album on Blue Note Records and became a touring member of Herbie Hancock’s band. Later, a move from New York to London brought the influence of synth-based pop to her sophomore album, Dark Black, often played in Bruce Springsteen’s home as he’s stated in multiple interviews.

Then came the move back to the States and a departure from love and heartbreak-based material. The brainwashing scene from the 1974 thriller The Parallax View, might seem an odd platform to launch a song, but Alan Pakula’s dark riffs on home and country were on her mind when she took a touristy turn around Philadelphia’s historical monuments a few years back. We the People lands with particular urgency. Produced in Nashville by Bill Reynolds (Avett Brothers/Band Of Horses) at his home studio, Train’s remarkable band includes a cast of musicians from across the genre spectrum from veterans and members of Bruce Hornsby to Milk Carton Kids; Tony Rice to Warren Haynes.

Residing in that tough space between tender and severe, We the People walks the musical/political tightrope with the deftness of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On? or Buffalo Springfield’s For What It’s Worth. Maybe “message songs” are more inviting when they are genuinely beautiful? “What’s the price of our freedom?,” Train sings, "What’s the light we possess?” Consider it a shot across the bow for a more perfect union.

I believe her songs and performances hang with the best in the firmament. You get a sense of her ambition when you hear her sing “May God protect the fools and babies/ But you ain’t a baby anymore.” Her voice is pure, richly embodied, and crystal clear, with a

recognizable nod to the vocal traditions of Nat King Cole, Roy Orbison, and Dusty Springfield. While her take on modern crooning is familiar, it can also be excitingly idiosyncratic, as showcased in her latest release, Body Pressure. It’s been a long journey and a relief to finally hear music for the grown. Life and loves that are real, not aspirational. Can you pick up what Kristina Train is putting down? If so, please take this “Homemade Bomb” out into the world.

—Mike Mattison (Tedeschi Trucks Band), somewhere in West Georgia