December 09, 2025 - 154 views
(Catch the full conversation with Cory Marks at 5pm Eastern Tuesday December 9th right here on PressPlayRadio.com)
With platinum singles, outlaw collaborations, and an acoustic tour on the horizon, the Canadian singer-songwriter proves genre lines are meant to be crossed, bent, and burned.
In an era where radio algorithms decide identity and TikTok metrics shape A&R decisions, Cory Marks has carved his own lane — and he did it by refusing to fit into one. Speaking with Don, Dean, and Press Play CEO Tina on Press Play Conversations, Marks opens up about how a kid raised on Merle Haggard and Rush became one of the most intriguing hybrid artists in North America. Equal parts country heart, rock grit, metal instincts, and classic songwriting discipline, Marks has built a catalog that doesn’t sample authenticity — it bleeds it.
His breakthrough single “Outlaws & Outsiders” says it all. Written at a moment when radio gatekeepers told him he was “too rock for country, too country for rock,” the track became a statement of purpose — a boundary line he never intended to stay behind. Produced by Kevin Churko (Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, Shania Twain), the song assembled a lineup most artists only dream of: Mick Mars, Ivan Moody, and Travis Tritt. It became Marks’ first Canadian platinum record and his first U.S. gold — an accomplishment that cracked open both markets simultaneously, something Nashville still can’t quite categorize.
“Whether it leans more rock or more country, I just try to make great music,” Marks says. “I grew up on all of it — Merle, Ozzy, Rush, Pantera, Bryan Adams. Why wouldn’t I write from all of it?”
That musical cocktail becomes clearer as Marks digs into influences. His father blasted “Bark at the Moon” before hockey games, he idolized Merle Haggard enough to keep the legend’s guitar picks framed in his studio, and his first album purchase was Bryan Adams’ 18 Till I Die. The heart of his songwriting lives in classic country storytelling — songs like “My Whiskey, Your Wine” feel like something George Jones might have pulled out of a back room at 2 a.m. — but the guitarist in him executes heavy riffs, drop-A tunings, and choruses built for festival crowds, not mechanical streaming playlists.
The interview’s most revealing moment comes when Marks describes songwriting evolution. His two-part project Sorry For Nothing spans the pandemic through 2024, written with Churko, Andrew Baylis, and Kyle Liddell. The decision to split it into two volumes wasn’t marketing — it was honesty. “It’s all from the same few years of my life. It made sense to keep the story together,” he explains.
Then there’s the pilot side — not metaphorical.
Marks flies real Cessna aircraft, regularly, sometimes fresh off the road. He laughs comparing horsepower like other artists compare pedalboards, and it’s impossible not to draw the parallel to Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden. Music might define him, but flight is how he clears his head.
Between festival sets, collaborations with Bad Wolves and Amanda Hardy, and an upcoming U.S. acoustic run with Sevendust, Marks keeps doing the one thing Nashville has a hard time commodifying: staying real. One minute he’s channeling Haggard’s emotional immediacy, the next he’s dropping stories about Bryan Adams — including the line he used to propose to his fiancée backstage in Pittsburgh.
What emerges is an artist perfectly comfortable living in the tension.
“I just hope people hear it, love it, and want more,” he says.
“That’s all I’ve ever tried to do.”
If the listener wants genres to stay in their cages, Marks won’t be your guy. If you want truth, grit, hooks, heartbreak, and horsepower — he’s already there.
To learn more about Cory Marks, hear new music, and get tour updates, visit:
???? https://mosaic.pressplay.me/profiles/cory-marks
And for the full unfiltered interview — stories, songs, influences, drop tunings, Bryan Adams proposals, Merle memories, and fighter-pilot joking — the complete session with Don, Dean, and Tina is streaming now on Press Play Radio.
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