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The Traveling Wilburys’ cover ‘End of the Line’ works beautifully with its characteristic New
       Orleans marching band drum beat and restrained brass and with Katie Pruitt and Aaron Neville

       also adding their vocals, the title track is a Johnny Cash song which Mac delivers in a very
       moving way — reminiscent of some of Johnny’s later records produced by Rick Rubin.  The
       remaining songs are all originals, the bluesy ‘Holy Water’ also has Katie Pruitt adding her
       vocals and ‘Sleeping Dogs Best Left Alone’ is one of Mac’s better vocal deliveries.  If Mac’s voice

       isn’t as strong as it once was this only adds a certain charm to some of the songs and he still
       has that ‘feel’.  The band support him wonderfully, they are Shane Theriot (guitars), Tony Hall
       (bass), Carlo Nuccio and Herlin Riley (drums) David Torkanowsky and Jon Cleary (keyboards),
       Mark Mullins (trombone), Alonzo Bowens (tenor sax) and Leonard Brown (trumpet).


       Graham Harrison




                                           Miko Marks and The Resurrectors—Feel Like Going Home
                                           —Redtone records




                                           Miko  Marks’  band  is  called  The  Resurrectors  —probably
                                           because they resurrected her career. She is originally from Flint,
                                           Michigan and started out in the early 2000s as a country singer
                                           but after two albums which never quite made it she quit the
                                           music business.  Now she’s back fifteen years later with her

                                           producers/band members, Steve Wyreman and Justin Phipps
                                           (who  also  co-wrote  the  songs  with  her),  with  a  record  that
       mixes blues, gospel, rock and soul with country sounds.  ‘Feel Like Going Home’ is a great way

       to start, a powerful soul ballad and the catchy ‘One More Night’ carries on in a similar vein
       with shout-outs for New Orleans, Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins,
       Howlin’ Wolf and Big Mama (Thornton) — which seems to define the music here.  ‘River’ is
       even better, a bluesy song with slide guitar and harmonica, while ‘This Time’ is a lovely melodic

       mid-tempo ballad and ‘Peace of Mind’ is another gospel-inflected soul ballad with heartfelt
       vocals from Miko.

       ‘Trouble’ ups the pace with its pounding drums and Miko and the backing singers soaring over

       the top, ‘The Good Life’ is a subdued country ballad and ‘Deliver Me’ is searing gospel — with
       both highlighting Miko’s outstanding and versatile voice.  ‘The Other Side’ and ‘Lay Your
       Burdens  Down’  are  both  more  country  influenced  tracks  and  ‘Jubilee’  mixes  gospel  and
       country.  I’m really glad that The Resurrectors came along for Miko this is a really good album

       that mixes genres to great effect, with catchy commercial songs that have the charm of country
       but the depth of blues — I thought that it had a real 60s feel and reminded me of great 60s
       artists like Delaney and Bonnie and The Band who also mixed genres in a similar way.





       Graham Harrison
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