It is amazing when an artist makes a return from obscurity after many years away from the music industry. We all know how ‘real life’ can get in the way of our art sometimes. American singer-songwriter Gary Marks made some noise in the late 1970’s but then vanished. It seems that he never stopped writing songs, just didn’t have the free time to get them out into the world. That has changed in 2026.
Recently he released his single “Sky High” that was actually recorded in 2006. We had the chance to catch up with Gary Marks and get a little deeper into the song and his last few decades. Enjoy the interview here:
You’ve described A Whisper Can Change the World as one of your best-sounding albums. Looking back nearly two decades later, what makes ‘Sky High’ a song you felt deserved a new spotlight today?”
Sky High has always been a fan favorite. The music is rockin’ and joyous. The lyrics are thoughtful while also being optimistic. It’s about a higher form of love. And of course, the “live band” sound that Jim Scott gets in his mixes matches the vibe of the song perfectly, and never gets old. He made the song come to life then. It sounds to me like it’s still living, and the message is still resonant twenty years later.
The recording features a close-knit group of collaborators, including Mike Moroney on bass and Greg Donscov on drums. How did those musicians help shape the atmosphere and emotional impact of ‘Sky High’ in the studio?”
They were LA studio guys that were willing to fly to Maui, Hawaii, where I was living at the time, and spend a few weeks hanging out with me and my family. They were so willing to just follow my ideas, always adding to them but never challenging them. It just became easy to try anything. For instance, I had such a hard time finding a drum part for the title track I almost dropped the song from the album. But they wouldn’t let me. We kept trying different things until I came up with a cool bass line for the verse, and eventually told Greg to literally just take a drum solo over the entire song. Of course, he found restraint while doing it, and that song suddenly became as quirky and weird and cool as I originally hoped it would be. Song after song we found our sound. By the time we got around to Sky High in the rehearsals we could read each other. I didn’t have to say anything. The song just clicked. I think we rehearsed the song for twenty minutes and just decided to move on before we screwed it up by overthinking it. In the end, the recording of Sky High and the entire album became easy and joyful. I loved working with those guys.
“Your recent releases, Crossroads, ‘The Real World,’ and now ‘Sky High,’ create an interesting bridge between past and present. What connects your songwriting from 2007 to the messages and stories you’re telling in 2026?”
I think when you are constantly searching for sounds that feel right to you personally as a writer it keeps a connective thread going through the years. In other words, not chasing sounds you hear on the radio, but following the sounds that move you, make you feel emotionally connected. As for the lyrics, I’m just continuing to speak my truth since the 60s and 70s really — about politics, love, freedom, the fragility of life. Those things stay current, even though the details, the stories, and the names in the news are constantly changing.
Lyric video for “Sky High” by Gary Marks
“The song is titled ‘Sky High.’ What does that phrase symbolize for you, and how does it connect to the message at the heart of the track?”
Too often relationships revert to the mean…. the meanness of people. The need for security and trust can lead to the need to control the other. Ironically, the opposite of what they wanted happens: mistrust kills the romance, resentment grows. Love comes down to earth, and at best becomes a friendship with limits. But “sky high” literally means an “unprecedented level.” In this case, the level of freedom you can feel in a committed relationship, where trust is assumed, and love is able to evolve to a higher level over time. But the song also talks about how that happens. Because at some point, each of us has to wake up to what our part in potentially wrecking it is…. “You and I we never met, til I woke up from the dead myself.” A lot of the songs on A Whisper Can Change the World are about how to get to that place. Not by demanding it from the other, or shouting about it, but just with a whisper—of the truth—with a lot of forgiveness and love behind the words.
“Many of your songs balance optimism with realism. Was ‘Sky High’ written as an expression of hope, a challenge to persevere, or something else entirely?”
It was written as a challenge to myself, to do the work true love requires to keep it strong. Otherwise you become like Icarus, naively believing someone else can save you from crashing. You have to save yourself first.
“If you were recording ‘Sky High’ for the first time in 2026 instead of 2007, is there anything you would approach differently, or does the song still feel complete exactly as it was captured then?”
The reason we are putting it out as a single is because we think it sounds great now, and the message resonates now. Jim Scott did a great job mixing, making each track have energy, and framing the hook—especially the second time it comes around—without having to add anything to the instrumentation to lift it. He made it sound like a live band—powerful, joyous. And that matches the message of the lyrics exactly. So honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m not sure it would come out better now. We were inside the song all the way through—lots of first takes tracking, and Jim’s one perfect mix.
