Tori Sparks

Tori Sparks (born December 5, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter known for her unconventional lyrics and her blending of folk, rock, and blues influences. She based in Barcelona, Spain, having recently relocated from Nashville, TN. Sparks has released six recordings: Tidewaters, Rivers + Roads, Under This Yellow Sun, The Scorpion in the Story, Until Morning/Come Out of the Dark, and El Mar. The intensity of Tori’s recorded music contrasts with her often humorous approach to her live shows, which usually includes audience interaction. Tori is also known for her advocation of the DIY (Do-It-Yourself) work ethic.

Tori was born just outside Chicago. Tori later moved to Sarasota, FL, and lived there until she graduated high school at the age of 17. During this time, she started classical training on the piano and cello, both eventually traded in favor of guitar at 13. Tori became heavily involved in theater and independent film in college. She attended Florida State University on a full academic scholarship, majoring first in Theater, then in Music. She graduated in three and a half years. It was during her time at Florida State that Tori’s focus shifted from theater to music. She started playing open mic nights and worked her way up to touring as a solo artist. It was during this time that she developed her trademark guitar and vocal style. Tori moved to Nashville for several years, and now lives in Barcelona, Spain. She is endorsed by D'Addario strings.

Tidewaters EP (2004)

At the age of eighteen Tori recorded her first release, the Tidewaters EP. Different versions of three of the four songs on the EP (“One in a Million,” “Red Letter Day,” “When I Said”) would later appear on Tori’s first full-length album, Rivers + Roads. The EP eventually attracted the attention of a small label based in Nashville, Platinum Plus Universal Records (PPUR). Sparks signed a developmental deal with PPUR in 2003.

Rivers + Roads (2005)

While still in college, Tori recorded her first album, Rivers + Roads, in Nashville. Tony Migliore was the artistic producer on the album, as well as a Juilliard-educated pianist known for his work with Don McClean, KD Lang, and Chet Atkins. The album featured a number of Nashville session musicians, such as Kerry Marx, who has played with Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. This was the first and to date only time that backing vocals were included on any of Tori’s recordings.

During the post-production of Rivers + Roads, Tori toured in France and England. Upon returning to the United States, Sparks graduated from FSU and moved to Nashville in January 2005. Sparks was selected as a Unisong International Songwriting Contest Finalist for her politically charged song "The Poster Child” later that year.

Soon after the official release of Rivers + Roads, Tori broke with her record label, Platinum Plus. Tori started touring heavily in the United States. Radio and video airplay in the U.S., Belgium, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, France, and England resulted. These included Music Choice (on demand), as well as military and commercial reels. One of the eight months was devoted to The Feed Your Soul Guitar Project, a 27-city tour and folk art auction benefiting Oxfam America.

The Feed Your Soul Guitar Project and tour attracted attention from The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Collected Sounds, Savannah Morning News, Media Search (Australia), Blues in Britain Magazine (UK), Northeast InTune Magazine, NBC, ABC, FOX and NPR affiliates. Tori's debut music video, "Rivers + Roads,” was screened at the Flint Film Festival 2006, and was selected "Best Pop Video" at the Indie Gathering 2006. Songs from Rivers + Roads were included on compilations such as KSYM-FM Camp Victory Compilation for the Troops (SCOOP KSYM-FM, 2007), MSMF Multiple Sclerosis Music Fest 2006 Compilation CD (Montel Williams MS Foundation, 2006), Canadian Music Week Best Unsigned Artists of 2006 (Tunetank, 2006), and A Taste of Triple A #16 Compilation (A Taste of Triple A, 2006).

Under This Yellow Sun (2007)

In 2007 Tori started work on her third release, co-produced and recorded with indie rock veteran David Henry (R.E.M., Ben Folds, Josh Rouse, Cowboy Junkies) as co-producer. The album features guest musicians Steve Bowman (Counting Crows), Aaron Sands (Jars of Clay), Pat Buchanan (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dixie Chicks) John Deaderick (Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams), Daniel Dennis (Prime Cut Records), Matthew Burgess (Brandi Carlile, Third Eye Blind), Joe Rathbone (Prime Cut Records) and producer David Henry.,

During the production of the album, Tori continued to tour in the United States. Tori once again collaborated with Rivers + Roads director Wayne Hall to create the music video for “Cold War,” which was screened at the 2008 Florida Indie Film Jam.

Under This Yellow Sun is the first release on Tori’s own record label (Glass Mountain Records) and publishing company (Hand Over Foot Publishing). The album has been favorably reviewed by Relix, Harp, Maverick, Skope, The Nashville Scene, Popmatters, and many regional newspapers across the country. After breaking the Top 100 on the RIYL Weighted College Charts, the album was licensed by MTV, Lifetime, and the Oxygen Network for use in their 2008-2009 television seasons.

A subsequent feature by XM Radio Unsigned prompted Universal Music France to contact Sparks. Universal included the album’s first single “Cold War” on their double-disc compilation Country Vol 2., released internationally in March 2008. The compilation sold 40,000 copies in Europe. The song was later licensed to the 10th season of American crime drama Criminal Minds in 2014. [3]

Tori was featured on the April 2008 covers of City at Night Magazine and Triangle Live in conjunction with her participation in the Tin Pan South music festival and non-profit fund raiser in Nashville. “Cold War” was selected a Unisong International Songwriting Contest Finalist (2007), and was later included on the Paste Magazine New Music Sampler in June 2008 (Issue # 43). Other artists on the compilation included Elvis Costello, She and Him, and Nada Surf.

The song “Caged Bird” from Under This Yellow Sun was selected one of the Top 12 DIY Downloads by Performing Songwriter magazine (2008), and one of the Top 10 Tracks of 2007 by Cashville 411.

The Scorpion in the Story (2009)

Tori’s third full-length album, The Scorpion in the Story, was the second album she co-produced with David Henry. Players on the album include Steve Bowman (Counting Crows), Will Kimbrough (Rodney Crowell), Viktor Krauss (Lyle Lovett, Mindy Smith, Allison Krauss), Fats Kaplin (Mark Knopfler, Kevin Welch), and Barry Walsh (Gretchen Peters).

The Scorpion in the Story is the first of Tori’s album to be called a “concept album.” Each song is a true story written about an individual Tori met while on the road in 2008. There is a map of the cities where the songs were written inside the album art.

The Scorpion in the Story includes a French version of the song “Merry Go-Round,” (“Le Manege”), and was released on Glass Mountain Records in June 2009. The video for “Merry Go-Round” was filmed with the participation of the National Carousel Association and the City of Shelby, NC, as well as the Nashville Rollerderby Girls.

Scorpion was featured in the book Mobile Web Design for Dummies (Janine Warner/David LaFontaine), and was listed in various “Best-Of” lists for 2010 in the US, the UK, Germany, Sweden, more. Her albums and website were featured in 2010 by the Los Angeles Times tech blog, Americana UK, and others.

The album has been praised by Folkwax, Americana UKand many others, and was a Nashville Scene’s Critic’s Pick. In July 2009, it broke the Top 100 on the U.S. Americana Radio Charts, and in April 2010, the Top 20 on the European Americana Charts. The song “Tall Towers” from The Scorpion in the Story was featured on the Paste Magazine Music Sampler # 54 in July 2009, which also featured songs by Son Volt, Rhett Miller, and Dinosaur Jr. “Tall Towers” was also a highlighted track CMJ.com in the same month, Tori donated proceeds from the song “Leaving Side of Love” in the Campaign to Save Paste, a program launched by the magazine when it was in financial distress, and again to Paste’s Hurricane Relief Fund benefiting Wyclef Jean’s Yele organization. Tori was the featured cover story for the inaugural issues of two magazines in April 2010: Dream Row Magazine, and bilingual English Spanish publication TN 4U.

Throughout the last few years, she has continued to tour heavily, sometimes playing as many as thirty shows in thirty days on the road. She has played at festivals such as Bele Chere in Asheville, RedGorilla in Austin, Folk Alliance in Memphis, Springing the Blues in Jacksonville, and others. Tori has appeared on the Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour with Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell, NBC Channel 10 in Philadelphia, Lightning 100’s Nashville Sunday Night, and many other radio and television shows. Tori was one of the singers considered for the role of Arachne in the upcoming Broadway production of Spiderman, directed by Julie Taymor.

Until Morning/Come Out of the Dark (2011)

Tori Sparks’ fourth album, Until Morning/Come out of the Dark, is her third musical collaboration with producer David Henry and her first with Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Elvis Costello, Velvet Underground, Gypsy Kings, Paula Cole, Rosanne Cash). The recordings feature the band from her previous recordings, as well as guest vocalists Shawn Mullins (Grammy nominee, #1 on the US Americana Charts), Mike Farris (Americana Music Association Artist of the Year, Dove Award Winner), Paris DeLane (Sonia Dada), and David Mead.

Until Morning/Come out of the Dark was recently released in August 2011, on vinyl and as a double CD.

This record marks the first Spanish-language song that Tori has recorded, a Cuban song from 1947 called “Quizás, Quizás, Quizás.” The song "Rain" was licensed by the airline Lufthansa for their inflight music playlists. [3] The album art was a design by noted New York visual artist Joe Petruccio, best known for his work with the Elvis Presley Estate and Graceland in Memphis.

El Mar (2014)

Her fifth full-length studio album, El Mar, was the first album she recorded in Spain. The album is a collaboration with Spanish flamenco fusion trio Calamento and electric guitarist El Rubio. Tori met the musicians from Calamento when they were booked on same bill at a benefit concert for a local food bank in 2012. Tori first started working with their percussion player, Javi Garcia, playing the repertoire from her previous albums, and later started collaborating on arrangements with the whole group, mixing her musical style (rock, folk, and blues) with their flamenco fusion. In January 2014 they went into the studio to record. [84]

The bilingual album El Mar (in English, The Sea) features several previously unrecorded original songs (including the title track) as well as several of Tori's compositions from her previous four albums ("Cold War," "Mama," "Under This Yellow Sun," and "Out of the Void") reworked into flamenco-based arrangements. Adapted versions of other artists' works, including traditional Spanish and Mexican songs, arrangements of songs by Leonard Cohen and Javier Ruibal, among others, make this the first of Tori's albums to be a mix of cover songs and original songs, as well as the first to be sung half in Spanish and half in English. [84]

The album was released in Spain in October 2014 at a benefit concert for Pinktober at Barcelona's Hard Rock Cafe. [85] The album resulted in numerous articles and interviews by Spanish national press, including Rolling Stone, Ruta66, Rockdelux, Radio3, Radio4, RTVE2, El Periodico, La Vanguardia, MondoSonoro, CadenaSER and many others. [86] Release dates in other European countries and the US are to be announced.

The album also features flamenco singers Iza and El Duende, who contribute backing vocals. El Mar was recorded in Feelback Studio with engineer Cesar J. de Cisneros, who won a Grammy Award in 2007 for his work on the Ojos de Brujo album Techari. [84]

Other Releases

Tori released the digital-only Little Stories EP at the same time as Under This Yellow Sun. It includes four previously unreleased acoustic songs, as well as the original demo for the song “Under This Yellow Sun.”

In late 2007, Tori released a Christmas single, “Hope for Me,” as well as two behind the scenes videos: Tori Sparks with Producer David Henry: The Making of Under This Yellow Sun (Glass Mountain Records, 2007) and Behind The Scenes: Screen Printing Madness with Tori Sparks (Glass Mountain Records, 2007).

In late 2009 Tori released a live DVD "Tori Sparks: Live at the Rutledge," a selection of songs recorded at the CD release concert for The Scorpion in the Story album.

In mid 2015 Tori released a limited-edition white vinyl 7-inch single of the song "Everybody Knows" from the album El Mar. The B-side to the single was an alternate version of the song "La Llorona" from the album. [87]

Tori has been part of benefit concerts on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, F.A.C.E., the March of Dimes, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Operation Troop Aid, Project Cure, Hope Clinic for Women, MusicCares, Gilda’s House, Harmony Republic, the One Campaign, Casa Ronald McDonald, Banco de Alimentos de Barcelona, Pinktober, Fundesplai, Save the Music and others. The Feed Your Soul Guitar Project’s auction of a guitar decorated by Tori raised awareness of the One Campaign and money for one of their partner organizations, Oxfam America.,

She has given guest lectures on the music industry in English and in French in high schools and universities in Tennessee and Florida, and is the author of two educational courses for ProMusicU.

Sparks wrote a monthly column on the subject of DIY in the music business in Nashville's Dream Row magazine,[65][66] and in Spring 2011 was a guest on nationally syndicated Music Business Radio hosted by David Hooper.[67]

She regularly speaks on similar topics at universities, performing arts schools, music conferences and festivals. She was a guest on a panel (as well as a performer) at South by Southwest 2011 on the topic of booking and touring,[68] and a panelist at the Knitting Factory's "This is Music" industry discussions in May 2011, just before she moved to Spain. [80] Tori was guest on Spain's national television Radio3 Television in September 2011,[69] and began writing regularly for Barcelona-based English language magazine Metropolitan about local music and culture around the same time. [81] Soon after, she was invited to speak at the largest international world music conference, WOMEX in Thessaloniki, Greece, on the subject of DIY in the music business, [82] and was booked to play in major festivals such as the Montreux Jazz Festival, Barcelona International Jazz Festival, [83] and others. She has continued to tour more and more extensively in Europe, both solo and with various configurations of musicians. [88]

Albums and EPs

Vinyl

Videos

Singles

Compilations

• Sin City Sampler: Volume 13 (Sin City Media, 2010)
• Dewey Beach Music Fest Sampler (DBMF, 2009)
• Paste Magazine New Music Sampler #54 (GoGirls Music, 2009)
• Paste Magazine New Music Sampler #54 (Paste Media Group, 2009)
• Project Cure Compilation 2008 (Project Cure, 2008)
• Paste Magazine New Music Sampler (Paste Media Group, 2008)
• Country Vol. 2 (double-disc) (Universal Music France, 2008)
• Moozikoo Best of Indies (Digital Release Only) (Moozikoo.com, 2008)
• KSYM-FM Camp Victory Compilation for the Troops (SCOOP KSYM-FM, 2007)
• MSMF Multiple Sclerosis Music Fest 2006 Compilation CD (Montel Williams MS Foundation, 2006)
• Canadian Music Week Best Unsigned Artists of 2006 (Tunetank, 2006)
• A Taste of Triple A #16 Compilation (A Taste of Triple A, 2006)
• World Music From Catalonia 2015 (Creative Catalonia/Government of Catalonia, 2015)

Collaborations

• “Mr. Bickle” from Wooden Music for a Plastic World. (Duet with Jeff Kuykendall. In Production, 2009.)
• "Blackbird" from A Me-Shaped Hole. (Written with Caroline Brewer. Independently released, 2008.)
• “When You Walked Away” (Written with Rebecca Hosking, 2008)
• “Pale Sorghum Lo-Fi Blues” from Pale Sorghum Lo-Fi Blues (Duet with D.W. DeHart. DeHorn Boys Music, 2007)
• “Letter to a Wretch #2” (Duet with Shawn Mullins, Digital Release Only, Glass Mountain Records/Courtesy of Vanguard Records, 2010)
• “Letter to a Wretch #2” (Duet with Shawn Mullins, Glass Mountain Records/Courtesy of Vanguard Records, 2010)
• "Siempre y Cuando Sobre Todo" (Duet with Lucas Masciano, Live, 2014)
• El Mar album (Arrangements with Calamento and El Rubio, Glass Mountain Records, 2014)

Record Labels

Tori’s first full-length album Rivers + Roads was released by Platinum Plus Universal Records. She started her own publishing company, Hand Over Foot Publishing in 2005, and record label, Glass Mountain Records in 2007. Under This Yellow Sun and all subsequent releases have been on Glass Mountain. Tori’s other publishing company, Wry Toast Publishing, was started in 2008. Glass Mountain Records is distributed by Burnside/BDC Distribution.