Cory Marks – Nashville Nights (2021)

As steeped in arena-ready rock as he is in backwoods country, Cory Marks defines his aesthetic with the very name of his debut single, "Outlaws & Outsiders," a cut that also featured a crew of cameos that summarized his world view: country vet Travis Tritt, Five Finger Death Punch singer Ivan Moody, and Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars. Marks' ease moving between metal and country distinguished his 2020 debut Who I Am and helped him bring in fans on both sides of the country and rock divide. With songs like "(Make My) Country Rock" and "Drunk When I'm High," 2025's Sorry for Nothing found Marks reveling in his rowdy and swaggering style.

Born Cory Gerald Joseph Marquardt in North Bay, Ontario, Canada on October 11, 1989, Cory Marks learned how to play drums as a child, and he developed a passion for hockey as a teenager. (His older brother, Matt Marquardt, played hockey professionally from 2008 to 2021). An interest in flying prompted him to take pilot's lessons in his adolescence, which in turn led him to attend the Royal Military College of Canada, where he played on the hockey team while learning to be a fighter pilot. While he was always a music fan who enjoyed vintage outlaw country like Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings, as well as classic rock acts like Rush and Ozzy Osbourne, Marks never considered playing music in public until he was in college, when his friends prodded him into singing some songs at a local bar. Bitten by the music bug, Marks concentrated on music after completing college, developing a hybrid of hard rock and country over the course of a decade when he performed as Cory Marquardt. He released an independent album, This Man, in 2015 as Cory Marquardt, earning the attention of producer Kevin Churko, and the pair wrote "Outlaws and Outsiders" together. Soon, the singer adopted the stage name Cory Marks and signed to Better Noise Music, and the duo started working with Churko's engineer son Kane on what would become Marks' debut album, Who I Am.

A star-studded version of "Outlaws & Outsiders" found a hard rock audience in late 2019, reaching number one on Billboard's Top Rock and Hard Rock Digital Song Sales charts, but it also reached number seven on Country Digital Song Sales. "Better Off" followed "Outlaws & Outsiders" then "Blame It on the Double," "Devil's Grin," and "Drive" all preceded Who I Am's August 2020 release. In 2021, Marks delivered a seven-song EP, Nashville Nights, which spawned the hit "Devil's Grin." Another EP was issued the following year, I Rise, and Marks paid homage to Canadian aviation on the 2023 track "Snowbirds." Marks made a guest appearance on "Unstoppable," a single from the hard rock band Eva Under Fire, and in 2024 he once again brought in some famous friends to help with the single "(Make My) Country Rock," with Sully Erna of Godsmack appearing along with Travis Tritt and Mick Mars. The track was the first preview of 2024's Sorry for Nothing, another album fusing hard-edged rock and hard-drinking country. The title track was also made available in an acoustic version that dialed down the rock guitars and pushed the pedal steel up in the mix. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Mark Deming