LOS ANGELES (Top40 Charts/ Glass Mountain Records) - Tori Sparks' second album Under This Yellow Sun was released to radio on August 27th. It is currently receiving CMJ Top 200 adds at various stations across the country. The alternative acoustic album features a melange of textures throughout and has attitude for miles. Under This Yellow Sun features a quirky music video for the song "Cold War," directed by Wayne Hall.
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Cold War" was selected a Unisong International Songwriting Contest this spring. Behind Tori's big black boots and balls-to-the-wall guitar playing lies an inventive lyricist who fortifies her words with commanding vocal capabilities. Imagine the alterna-roots-rock, folk-addicted lovechild of
Shawn Colvin and Ron Sexsmith as instrumentally impressive as is Tori's voice.
David Henry (R.E.M., Ben Folds, Vienna Teng, Josh Rouse, Jill Sobule, Widespread Panic, Indigo Girls, Cowboy Junkies) and Tori co-produced the album.
Steve Bowman from the Counting Crows,
Aaron Sands from Jars of Clay, John Deaderick who plays with Patty Griffin & Emmylou Harris, and other impressive players add to the forthright and decisive energy of Tori's music. Under This Yellow Sun will be released under the auspices of Glass Mountain Records and Hand Over Foot Publishing (ASCAP).
The songs on the album reveal Tori as an instinctive performer with predilections for a hint of drama in her stone-blues rock'n'soul. Add ragtime/parlor vibes and a dash of the darker side of Dixie jazz, and you have a sound unique to the adventurous young chanteuse who has already started to make her mark on the independent scene.
Tori's first EP, Tidewaters, was released in 2003 and soon had independent labels smashing down her door, eventually enticing her to relocate to Nashville. The newly transplanted Tori promptly recorded her debut album Rivers + Roads in 2005.
Tracks from the album were featured on the "Canadian Music Week Best Unsigned Artist Compilation" and "A Taste of Triple A" in 2006, alongside artists such as Brandi Carlile and the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. The music video "Rivers + Roads" was selected Best Pop Video by the Indie Gathering 2006. Tori Sparks has shared the stage with internationally known artists such as Justin Earle (Steve Earle's son), and John and Mary of the 10,000 Maniacs.
She also spent months devoted to the Feed Your Soul Guitar Project, a tour and folk art auction benefiting Oxfam America. ASCAP, The Village Voice, Paste Magazine Online, NBC, ABC, FOX, the Women's Right to Rock Music Festival and other publications took note of Tori's work and helped spread the word. Eight months of heavy touring in 2006 has helped to build her a solid fan base that only continues to spread with 2007 tours of Ireland and the U.S.
