Marc Ricks

Having grown up in a pastor’s home with a love for melodies across

all genres, country music has always been Marc’s main appeal. Flipping

through his CD binder in high school, the eclectic collection he garnered

would have left many scratching their heads as to if this assortment

belonged to the same person. To this day, his playlist is all over the

musical spectrum, with everything from contemporary Christian worship

to yacht rock to country to hard rock to jazz, with a sprinkling of

everything in between. His philosophy has always been that if it’s got an

enticing melody or a good beat, he can enjoy it…until recently.

Country music has always been his “hub”, his go-to when he’s in his

truck and wants to sing along, but it seems lately that modern country is

intent on pushing the boundaries to see what language they can get by

with. It then dawned on him: if artists can push the boundaries in THAT

direction, why can’t an artist push the boundaries in the OTHER direction,

towards more of a faith-based model with the same sound but more of a

truth-filled message of the REAL Jesus and not the watered down version

the world has been pedaling for the the last 2000 years? In other words,

why can’t we have sounds of modern country that’s safe to listen to with

the kids around?

With that in mind, Marc jokes that he left the field of education as a

“starving teacher” and decided to use what he had gleaned as a part-

time worship leader and step into this unknown world of music

recording, writing, and production and trying his hand at being a

“starving artist”. Having written lyrics and chord progressions before, he

had never tried his had at writing melodies (aka top lines) and confesses

he was scared to death. When it was made clear that his initial plans of

releasing what he calls “What-if’s” (rewriting past-and-current hits to have

Christian- themes) were not going to be feasible due to licensing

purposes, he almost walked away from the project all together.

Thankfully, the man that showed him that writing music was feasible gavehim access to a masterclass on music writing and suddenly, Marc realized

that the process wasn’t as “scary” as he once thought it was.

With this thought in mind, Marc set off to create his own EP and

within a month and a half, the first 5 songs were done along with a

“reimagined” version of a song from his childhood, which was heavily

updated from the original to make it sound modern and relevant for

today’s listener. Since that time, he has had immense support from his

wife, Tammy, his two sons David, and Isaac, and his daughter Emilynn,

who all understand the late nights and frustrations that often come with

writers block and overall fatigue.

In addition, Marc has also received the backing of financial support

from a couple of anonymous sources as they too believe in the project

and in his ability to see it through, and have funded this dream that he

says he didn’t even realize he had until the fall of 2023 when he recorded

his first song and sent it to his producer for the first mix in November. His

creative partner, David Coughanour, has helped immensely in so many

ways, but especially in reimagining songs that give new life and meaning

to strains that may otherwise have been lost in the annals of time.

Marc’s dad is where his musical talent comes from as the majority of

that side of the family had/has a form of musical aptitude but also having

the support and encouragement of both his mom and dad, who are still

serving together faithfully in the ministry after nearly 50 years.

Through thick and thin, however, Marc says there’s One source that

has never wavered and never faltered, regardless of his own fallacies and

that’s his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He started this project to get the

Message out and will continue to do so as long as the Lord allows. Marc’s

main prayer is that the Lord will be glorified in anything he does and is

grateful for the forgiveness when he inevitably lets Him down…again and

again.