Miko Marks has announced her latest album, Hell Or High Water, on 30th October 2026 via Redtone Records. It’s her first new studio album since her 2022 release, Feel Like Going Home. Hell Or High Water sees Marks lean further into the blues than previously, the album drawing on the gospel, country soul, and rock n’ roll traditions that have shaped her music. Produced by and co-written with longtime collaborator Justin Phipps, the record emerged from a period of enormous personal change; in 2024, Marks’ 29-year marriage ended amicably, and shortly afterwards, she began her journey with sobriety.
Across the album, she moves through loss, uncertainty, injustice, grief, and personal struggle while holding fiercely to hope, healing, and freedom. “Hell Or High Water is an album about resilience, healing, freedom, and choosing hope in the face of pain,” Marks explains. “These songs acknowledge the darkness without surrendering to it. I find comfort in nature, music, community, faith, memory, and the simple moments that bring me back to myself.”
Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, Marks is a granddaughter of the Great Migration whose music has long brought country, gospel, blues, and soul together. “Blues is a part of who I am,” she says. “It’s woven into my upbringing, my experiences, and my musical journey. Joy is still possible. Freedom is still worth pursuing. Peace is still worth searching for,” Marks continues. “Even when the road is uncertain, there is power within us – and beyond us – that keeps us moving forward.”
The album is introduced by its lead single, Death Rolls Like Thunder, which uses the Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand, as its setting, drawing on the historic battle to tell a story about resistance in the face of seemingly inevitable defeat.
The song casts the forces of greed, ego, and inhumanity as the devil riding in on a pale horse, his army following. Death and destruction appear before the tables turn and the riders who have come to conquer are defeated. “The battle is an example from our own history about the power of a people defending their land and their right to remain,” Marks elaborates. “It’s a reminder of people throughout history who have fought against the undoing of their world. People who have found ways to hold on, to resist, to rebuild. Remembering these stories feels so important today, to remind us that we have that same power.”
