It Feels Good

Album Review

The second album by country singer (and occasional songwriter) Miko Marks is a solid piece of traditionalist but not hidebound country-pop. Pitched between acoustic bluegrass influences and '70s soft rock in much the same way that the early albums by the Dixie Chicks were, It Feels Good showcases a singer with a playful view of gender matters best shown on the swaggering "Locked & Loaded," which out-brasses Gretchen Wilson, and the wry childhood tomboy reverie "The Son My Daddy Never Had." A powerful but never strident singer with a burnished, occasionally sultry voice, Marks has a wider range both tonally and emotionally than many female country singers, who are more easily locked into a certain predetermined style. Naturally, it could be argued that simply by virtue of being a black woman singing traditional country music, Marks is already opting out of the expectations game. Cleanly produced but lacking the impersonal sheen of too much contemporary Nashville music, It Feels Good clicks on every level, making it a solidly enjoyable neo-traditionalist country listen.