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Tori Sparks

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The Scorpion in the Story (2009)

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 eye-popping soul-singing, and zany stand-up-style humor. Tori's acclaimed third album, The Scorpion in the Story, 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 (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 Storyis a tale in thirteen chapters, a tour diary in the form of a concept album. Each song was written about one of the many colorful individuals Tori met while touring across the U.S. last year. The album includes a French version of the song "Merry Go-Round," ("Le Manege"), and was released on Glass Mountain Records in June 2009. The music video for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z565NWQ92pY">"Merry Go-Round"</a> features a 100-year-old carousel as well as the Music City Rollerderby Girls. The album quickly broke the Top 100 on the Americana Radio Charts, and is currently in the running for six possible Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist (details to come). The murder ballad "Tall Towers" from the new album has been featured on the Paste Magazine New Music Sampler #53, on CMJ.com's "New Music Download,", and on <a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/10/prweb3027534.htm">Microsoft's Windows Media Player homepage</a>.

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 books most of her own shows, and does all of her own laundry. In 2008 and 2009, Tori has showcased at Folk Alliance, Bele Chere, American MusicFest, many other conferences and festivals, and played nearly 200 shows to boot. She recently performed on Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour alongside Rolling Stones pianist Chuck Leavell. Tori is the author of two courses for roaming music business education organization ProMusicU, and is the creator of The Feed Your Soul Guitar Project, a tour and folk art auction benefiting Oxfam America. 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.

Under This Yellow Sun (2007)

Tori's sophomore album, Under This Yellow Sun, was released in 2007, and was 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, Performing Songwriter, Skope, The Nashville Scene, XM Radio, and countless others. After climbing the Top 100 on the RIYL Weighted College Charts, the album was licensed by MTV, Lifetime, and the Oxygen Network for use in their upcoming 2009 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 Country Vol. 2, which has sold 40,000+ copies. "Cold War" is also featured on the Paste Magazine New Music Sampler released in June 2008.

Rivers + Roads (2005) and Tidewaters EP (2003)

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.

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."

Guilty Pleasures.

Tori's albums 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, cop shows, 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.

Twitter Updates

Free music! Dowload "Little Wrecking Ball" in exchange for one tweet. (Yes, really free. 'Cause we love you.) http://trkurl.com/wHGuXg #TFAT
about 7 hours ago

Latest bulletin 11.17.09

Tori Sparks Official E-Newsletter: December Tour Dates, more...

Tori Sparks Official E-Newsletter
Tuesday, November 17th 2009

Greetings, Torilings. (That's sort of like Earthlings, but you get the idea....

More...

Tori Sparks Official E-Newsletter
Tuesday, November 17th 2009

Greetings, Torilings. (That's sort of like Earthlings, but you get the idea...)

The year is speeding to a close, and you know what that means! Tons of December tour dates.

XXXMas Orders

Happy Holiday offer to you, 'cause we love you. Any order placed through the Tori Store between now and December 18th will also receive a free bonus dropcard, compete with extra songs, music videos, interviews, and other goodies. If you're ordering for a friend, we'll even include a personalized gift card. Just ask.

http://www.torisparks.com/store.html

Already have Scorpion and all the other albums at home? Remember that the new DVD, Tori Sparks: Live at the Rutledge is a 45-minute extravaganza of rock... and totally fits in stockings. Just sayin'.

Party Like It's 2009: End of November & December Tour Dates

From now till New Year's, it's on! Here's the skinny.

A few big shows to watch for:
*The Nashville Birthday Bash and Grimey's In-Store (Free cupcakes!)
*The 3rd Annual Hometown Holiday Bash
*Two big-time benefit concerts in Gainesville
*The Annual SPR Thanksdrinking Day Ball
*BIg New Year's Show in Louisville
*And our first time in Arizona!

Nov 18, 2009 @ 10pm
The Lost Leaf Gallery
Phoenix, AZ

Nov 19, 2009   @ 9pm
Rogue Bar
With The Kate Becker Project and Patricia Berg
Scottsdale, AZ

Nov 20, 2009     @ 8:30am and 6pm
Live on Arizona Radio Spotlight (KUAZ 89.1FM)
Phoenix, AZ

Nov 20, 2009     @ 8pm
Yucca Tap Room
With The Kate Becker Project and The Sugar Thieves
Tempe, AZ

Nov 21, 2009     @ 7pm
Angels Serenity House Concert
Phoenix, AZ

Nov 22, 2009     @ 2pm
Live on Arizona Music Cafe on KKNT AM 960
Phoenix, AZ

Nov 22, 2009     @ 7pm
Hotel Congress
With The Kate Becker Project and The Sugar Thieves
Tucson, AZ

Nov 24, 2009     @ 10pm
Live on The Steve Katsos Show
Boston, MA

Nov 25, 2009     @ 8pm
Annual SPR Thanksdrinking Day Ball
With The Self-Proclaimed Rockstars
Melrose, MA

Nov 27, 2009     @ 8pm
6B Martini Lounge
With Mick Greenwood
Boston, MA

Dec 5, 2009 @ 4pm (Early Saturday Show)
Grimey’s New and PreLoved Music: In-Store Show & Tori’s Birthday Bash!
FREE CUPCAKES = Awesome. Come grab one. Watch for the feature story in City at Night Magazine and Music News Nashville.
Nashville, TN

Dec 11, 2009     @ 10am
Live on Your Carolina (News Channel 7)
Greenville, SC

Dec 11, 2009 @ 9:30pm
Smiley's Acoustic Cafe
Greenville, SC

Dec 12, 2009 @ 9pm
Sylvia Theater
With Special Guests
York, SC

Dec 16, 2009     @ 7pm
House Concert – Details TBA
With Big Daddy Webster
Tallahassee, FL

Dec 17, 2009     @ 8pm
Holiday Dinner/Benefit Concert: South Main Arts Center
Gainesville, FL

Dec 18, 2009     @ 9:30pm
Dave's Aqua Lounge
Saint Petersburg, FL

Dec 19, 2009 @ 8pm
Lunazoot Presents House Concert Series
Tampa, FL

Dec 20, 2009     @ 7pm
3rd Annual Hometown Holiday Bash!
Presented by Tijuana Flats
Optional: Bring a can of food to donate to All Faiths Food Bank, we’ll drop it off for you.
Sarasota, FL

Dec 27, 2009     @ 3pm (Special Early Show)
Jeff Knee’s Birthday Party and Benefit for LAM
UF Phillips Center for the Performing Arts' (Squitieri Studio Theatre)
With catered desserts and drinks, photo portraits out front by the fountain, raffles of art and other gifts where everyone wins, plus a big ticket raffle luck of the draw, and headlined by Tori Sparks.
Gainesville, FL

Dec 31, 2009     @ 7pm
Conway's House Concerts: New Year's Eve Bash
Magic show, music, and more! Email Conway@dreamhigh.com if you’d like to RSVP.
Louisville, KY

Lightening-Fast Recap: Tours and Other Important Things

Having just come off a long tour, I know there are lots of newsletter virgins -- new friends who are getting the email for the first time. So, quick recap of some exciting things that we'd like you to know about.

GRAMMYs: Scorpion is up for six possible Grammy nominations – crazy, I know. Nominations announced in December.

MICROSOFT: Microsoft and ReverbNation have teamed up to help independent artists – thanks to both for the feature! “Tall Towers” was featured on Microsoft's Windows Media Player homepage. Details are here.

iPHONE APP: Games, puzzles, photos, music, instant access to tour dates, all the insider info available at the click of an Apple product. Awesome. Find it on your iPhone.

MIDWEST and THE CAROLINAs: Revisiting good friends and meeting new faces in Bloomington, Indy, Chicago, Toledo. Played at Ft. Wayne's most rockin' rock club, and in Covington, played an arts center with floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows, jello shots, and a massive pipe organ. Survived a rockslide and 20-degree weather, opened for Malcom Holcomb and ate Thai food at 2am. Saw a rainbow and met Georige Gershwin's great-nephew. Played at colleges and learned the meaning of ecopragmatism. Thanks to the Shelby Star and others for the write-ups.

WEST COAST: The West Coast tour and CT dates were a madcap ride as always. Highlights included getting to play an in-store at the original Tower Records location in Sacramento, the Halloween Bash, first time in Olympia, full band show in Seattle, first time in Vancouver, New Hampshire, more. I got to see a belly dancing show, eat Peruvian food, get lost in multiple Chinatowns, hung out in a cell at Alcatraz, fell very ill after a 13-hr drive, translated French to English and back during a mid-flight medical emergency, rode down Sunset Strip at midnight on a motorcycle, got a purple hat in San Francisco, went to the Jimi Hendrix Experience Music Project. Played the Associated General Contractors Awards in Nashville, and they thought it was cool that I know what rebar is. Ha. Thanks to The Stranger in Seattle and to Crossbridge for the newspaper features, KATU AM Northwest for the TV interview, all the supportive radio stations - you know who you are! Only two days off in 32 days.

Coming Soon...

A mobile version of ToriSparks.com will be launched in December! Very excited to be working with WhenI'mMobile. Access to the smartphone-ready version of the site will include an exclusive free download, not available anywhere else! Please stay tuned.

Next year's tour dates include revisiting north, south, east, west, and central United States and Canada - including never-before-played states such as Kansas, Montana, Quebec more -- and touring in Europe (England, Ireland, France, to be continued). Schedules and details to come in January 2010.

“Listen to THIS!”

(Almost) monthly music recommendations fo’ yo brain.

1) Gypsy Punk by Gogol Bordello. Why? I heard the song "Start Wearing Purple" in my friend Sarah's Seattle apartment. Being a fan of weirdness, I was hooked. Reviewers described them as "the frenetic Ukrainian, Eugene Hütz and his traveling side show... eclectic, breakneck cabaret punk... a cabal of sinister songwriters... but really fun." That about covers it.

2) Woman King [EP] by Iron and Wine. Why? I love Sam Beam -- who once stared me down outside his bus in Louisville, by the way -- but I'd somehow missed this gem of an EP. Sort of a sonic precusor to the uber-cool Shepherd's Dog record, seven songs that are, as usual, more intricate that they first seem. Trippy and relaxing all at once.

Merry Early Holiday Season, Happy New Year's! Remember that when the big sparkling ball drops in my garish and beloved Times Square, I'll be toasting to your health, and hopefully, excessive happiness. Prost!

Tori

www.torisparks.com
www.myspace.com/torisparks
www.twitter.com/torisparks
www.facebook.com/torisparks
www.reverbnation.com/torisparks

GLASS MOUNTAIN RECORDS -WRY TOAST PUBLISHING - HAND OVER FOOT PUBLISHING
"Freedom from the long shadow of the corporate umbrella."

Tori Sparks © 2009. All rights reserved.
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Bulletins

Nov 05, 05:02 PM

Possibly Grammy Noms, Microsoft Feature

Featured on Microsoft's Windows Media Player homepage! Thanks to
ReverbNation and Microsoft for supporting independent music. See the press
release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/10/prweb3027534.htm

Also! Scorpion is up for six possible Grammy nominations – crazy, I know. While “Record of the Year” is way more likely
to go to, say, Springsteen, “Best Contemporary Folk Album” and
“Best New Artist” are – with your help! -- possibilities. NARAS
members, I’d appreciate your vote. Thank you for your
consideration.

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