BREAKING NEWS!

 

"Cold War" featured on Paste Magazine New Music Sampler, June 2008. (Issue #43).

Tori is on the cover of City at Night Magazine (April/May 2008 issue).    

Listen up... "Cold War" included in Universal Music France double-disc music compilation. 

Under This Yellow Sun licensed to MTV, Lifetime, and Oxygen Networks. Shows include Road Rules, The Hills, and more TBA. Stay tuned in 2008... Click here for details.  

 "Most Alone" featured on XM Radio!

  VIEW EXCLUSIVE BEHIND THE SCENES FOOTAGE...

The Making of Under This Yellow Sun
Screen Printing Madness with Tori Sparks

New UTYS and "Cold War" teeshirts available now! Click here.

Like what you hear?

Click to order Tori Sparks' Under This Yellow Sun

 

---

ABOUT TORI...

 

Tori Sparks calls Nashville home, but spends most of her time on the road in the U.S. and Europe. Called �a knockout� by the Village Voice, her dynamic live show is equal parts soulful singing and zany stand-up-style humor. Tori�s latest album Under This Yellow Sun was co-produced with indie rock veteran David Henry (R.E.M., Ben Folds, Josh Rouse, Widespread Panic, Cowboy Junkies) , and features players such as Steve Bowman of Counting Crows, Aaron Sands of Jars of Clay, John Deaderick (Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams), and Pat Buchanan (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Dixie Chicks).
 

Under This Yellow Sun is the first release under the auspices of Tori�s own record label (Glass Mountain Records) and publishing company (Hand Over Foot Publishing). It has been praised by Relix, Harp, Maverick, Skope, The Nashville Music Guide, XM Radio, and others. After breaking the Top 100 on the RIYL Weighted College Charts, the album was immediately licensed by MTV, Lifetime, and the Oxygen Network for use in their 2008 television seasons. A subsequent feature by XM Radio Unsigned prompted Universal Music France to contact Sparks, has toured in France and other parts of Europe. Universal included Sparks� single �Cold War� on their double-disc compilation, released internationally in March 2008. "Cold War" is also featured on the Paste Magazine New Music Sampler released in June 2008.
 

Tori�s relentless touring has taken her from New York to Los Angeles to Miami, from Toronto to London to Paris, and through every small town in between. She has shared the stage with Justin Townes Earle, Garrison Starr, Rachael Sage, Maria Muldaur, John & Mary of 10,000 Maniacs, and more. The fearless chanteuse makes the audience her own in any setting. Besides her big black boots, and balls-to-the-wall guitar playing, she is known for being a part of and organizing benefit concerts on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind, F.A.C.E., the March of Dimes, and the One Campaign.
 

Contrary to popular belief, Sparks did not emerge Venus-like from Lake Michigan on a gigantic seashell Tori was born in Chicago, and grew up in Sarasota, FL. She recorded her first EP, Tidewaters, in 2003, while attending Florida State University. . The four-song project attracted the attention of a small independent label based in Nashville. The label snapped her up, promptly recorded her debut album and music video �Rivers + Roads� in 2005, moved her to Music City� and even more promptly went belly-up. Where some would crumble, Tori emerged from the wreckage and dove into eight solid months of exhaustive touring, radio, and video promotion. Her work paid off, as radio and video airplay in the U.S., Belgium, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, France, and England resulted.
 

One of the aforementioned eight months was devoted to The Feed Your Soul Guitar Project, a tour and folk art auction benefiting Oxfam America. ASCAP, The Village Voice, Paste Magazine Online, Northeast InTune Magazine, All Music, NBC, ABC, FOX, the Women�s Right to Rock Music Festival and others thought this was pretty cool and said so. Tori's debut music video, "Rivers + Roads," was screened at the Flint Film Festival 2006, and was selected "Best Pop Video" by the Indie Gathering 2006. She was selected as a Unisong International Songwriting Contest Finalist for her politically-charged alterna-blues tune "The Poster Child� in 2005, and again in 2007 for �Cold War.�
 

Under This Yellow Sun and Rivers + Roads can each be purchased for less than the price of a veggie burger in Los Angeles at one of 100+ digital distributors in 25 countries. These include the ubiquitous iTunes, and 30+ CD retailers, including BestBuy.com, Target.com, Amazon.com, and others. Tori�s guilty pleasures include black jelly beans and 80s music. There is a big map of the U.S. and Europe on her wall, full of little colored pins marking cities she�s played.
 

Click for more information on Tori�s record label, Glass Mountain Records.
 

Their motto? �Freedom From the Long Shadow of the Corporate Umbrella.�
 

---

 

 

Check out Tori Sparks on MySpace. Facebook. ReverbNation. Groupietunes Ringtones!

Watch the music video for �Cold War.�

 

---

 

 

 

 

PRESS

�The talented Tori Sparks� is a knockout��
     --Joe McCombs, The Village Voice
 

�Here�s a singer/songwriter with the strong, eloquent vocals of Bonnie Raitt and the guitar mastery of Joni Mitchell. Her second indie release Under this Yellow Sun is a bounty of subtle rock and haunting blues�
     --Nancy Dunham, Relix
 

�Tori Sparks� voice isn�t one of those passive instruments that treats a lyric like it�s a classified ad� Here is a supple, teasing voice that flutters and flies seemingly without effort from note to note, line to line, so that weepy sensitivity and pleading vulnerability cozy up with tough resilience and firm resolve so seamlessly you never even notice the mood swing.�
      --Jeff Tamarkin, Harp Magazine
 

�Sparks needs little in the way of effects or layering to get her music across� strong and fabulous��
     --Jason MacNeil, PopMatters
 

�Tori can make you believe in something whether you want to or not. She has the purest vocals I�ve heard since Kate Bush.�
    --Rebecca Hosking, Music News Nashville
 

�Those are the songwriting skills of someone like Roseanne Cash�Providence RI [from Under this Yellow Sun] has Springsteen a la Nebraska or Darkness on the Edge of Town magic about it.�
    --Jon Delange, Tinderbox Music
 

"Like Natalie Merchant and Madeline Peyroux getting together to do heroin... in an awesome sultry way."
     --CJ Watson
 

"[Tori] is an excellent songwriter... Her songs are well crafted, personal and at times introspective. ... More than anything, Sparks deserves to be recognized for her voice. It can take her about anywhere she wants -- it's that good."
     --David Bowling, The DailyVault
 

�Just damn good� [an] exuberant and muscular vocalist/songwriter/guitarist.�
     --Chris Uebbing; Infringe This!
 

�[Tori] should add The Pretenders to [her] list of influences. In a good way. I�d take that any day.�
     --Ben Folds
 

"Tori Sparks sounds suitably dislocated... in the manner of some funky New Orleans guitarist -- Snooks Elgin, or Walter 'Wolfman' Washington... swinging, controlled performances..."
     --Edd Hurt; The Nashville Scene
 

"[Tori's] dynamic live show is equal parts soulful singing and zany stand-up-style humor... falls somewhere between Dixie rock, folk blues, and Americana."
     --Joyce Arnold; City at Night Magazine

“Sparks' bluesy vocals and intensely rhythmic groove paints a sexy and sultry sound that's a joy to hear in any venue... this 24 year old songstress rocked the room, drew listeners from tables in the back to the stage front and pulled people in from off the street (yes, during SXSW) to hear her...”
     --Anny Randel, Savvant Music
 

�Sparks. . . [has] stuck to her muse and it was exactly what people wanted.�
     -- John Stoehr; Savannah Morning News
 

"A fearless performer, she is notorious for her blend of quirky humor and fiery delivery and has fused a sound and astyle that is unmistakably her own."
    -- Cassaundra Baber; Utica Life & Times
 

�I found her vocal stylings interesting, different�Her music possesses a grit and angst not heard much today��
     --Brooke Welu, Northeast InTune Magazine
 

"All of her hard work is starting to pay off... Yet, with all the apparent beginnings of commercial success, Sparks remains incredibly focused on the reason she sings and plays: the passion that fuels the creation of her music."      --Don Swaby,>Melt Magazine
 

�There is a very sensual quality to her voice. It just drips with emotion. �Out of the Void� is damn near heartbreaking�The songs are well written, interesting and catchy without being trite. The musicianship is fabulous� this is a fantastic album.�
      -- Amy Lotsberg; Collected Sounds 

  �[Sparks] packs a wallop of a voice� each song proves that she�s more than just a pretty face.�
    -- Paul Barbatano; Dayton City Paper 

  ��Both concise and taut mixtures of lyrics with music that are thoughtful and evocative without being pretentious. � Discover Sparks� powerful voice now�!�
     --Ron Saranich, Cosmik Debris
 

�Tori can rock so seductively then revert to a striking emotive process. . . there is nothing formulaic that you can pigeon-hole."
     --Carmine Pascuzzi; Media Search (Australia)
 

�This multi-talented artist really struts her stuff on [Under This Yellow Sun]. Her warm gutsy vocals are full of soul� mixed with lots of attitude. You�ll want this one for your record collection.�
     --Brad Fischer, Nashville Music Guide

  �Sparks lets go of the typical restraints of the singer-songwriter stigma... This album is not only sexy, beautiful, and enticing, but Sparks shows something that many artists forget�the truth.�
     --Jeff Russell, Murfreesboro Pulse