Biography
A singer and songwriter whose work spans blues, folk, rock, and forays into flamenco, Tori Sparks delivers her material with a fiery, gutsy style reminiscent of Ani DiFranco. She first appeared in 2003 via the EP Tidewaters and followed with her debut album, Rivers + Roads, in 2005. The acoustic emphasis of her third album, The Scorpion in the Story (2009), gave way to a flamenco-infused setting for her blues-rooted vocals on the fifth release, El Mar (2014). Captured during a Barcelona concert, her initial live album, Wait No More, surfaced in 2019, and a vinyl reissue of El Mar arrived in 2021 to mark a decade since the American had left Nashville for that city.
Born in Chicago, Sparks cut the 2003 EP Tidewaters as a Florida State University student, by which point she was already performing regularly. Upon graduation she settled in Nashville, where Platinum Plus issued her first full-length, Rivers + Roads, in 2005. The next year she toured in support, drawing notice from outlets such as Paste and The Village Voice. In 2006 she entered the studio with co-producer David Henry (Josh Rouse, Amanda Shires); the resulting Under This Yellow Sun appeared on her own Glass Mountain Records in 2007. Among its guest players were Steve Bowman (Counting Crows) and Aaron Sands (Jars of Clay), and the song “Cold War” later aired on Criminal Minds and Lost Girl. A companion EP, Little Stories, gathered unreleased material and demos.
Sparks returned in 2009 with the folk-leaning The Scorpion in the Story, featuring contributions from Will Kimbrough and Viktor Krauss. Her fourth album, the double-EP Until Morning/Come Out of the Dark, followed on Glass Mountain in 2011 and enlisted Shawn Mullins and Mike Farris among its musicians; that same year she relocated from Nashville to Barcelona, Spain. Embracing the flamenco currents of her adopted home, she collaborated with local artists—including the fusion trio Calamento and guitarist Francisco Guisado “El Rubio”—on El Mar (2014) and La Huerta (2017). Both sets blended originals and covers across English and Spanish and earned strong acclaim in Spain. She continued the partnership with Calamento on the live album Wait No More (2019), recorded at Barcelona’s Luz de Gas in September 2018.
In May 2020 Sparks curated the multi-artist compilation Amor en los Tiempos de Cuarentena, spotlighting performers whose tours had been halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. That month she also produced Sonrían, Por Favor for Alma de Boquerón. From 2019 to 2020 she served as Secretary of the Musicians Union of Catalunya. While still under lockdown she and her band remotely recorded a version of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” which appeared later in the year and was subsequently included on a limited-edition vinyl pressing of El Mar issued in July 2021 to commemorate her tenth year in Barcelona.
Born in Chicago, Sparks cut the 2003 EP Tidewaters as a Florida State University student, by which point she was already performing regularly. Upon graduation she settled in Nashville, where Platinum Plus issued her first full-length, Rivers + Roads, in 2005. The next year she toured in support, drawing notice from outlets such as Paste and The Village Voice. In 2006 she entered the studio with co-producer David Henry (Josh Rouse, Amanda Shires); the resulting Under This Yellow Sun appeared on her own Glass Mountain Records in 2007. Among its guest players were Steve Bowman (Counting Crows) and Aaron Sands (Jars of Clay), and the song “Cold War” later aired on Criminal Minds and Lost Girl. A companion EP, Little Stories, gathered unreleased material and demos.
Sparks returned in 2009 with the folk-leaning The Scorpion in the Story, featuring contributions from Will Kimbrough and Viktor Krauss. Her fourth album, the double-EP Until Morning/Come Out of the Dark, followed on Glass Mountain in 2011 and enlisted Shawn Mullins and Mike Farris among its musicians; that same year she relocated from Nashville to Barcelona, Spain. Embracing the flamenco currents of her adopted home, she collaborated with local artists—including the fusion trio Calamento and guitarist Francisco Guisado “El Rubio”—on El Mar (2014) and La Huerta (2017). Both sets blended originals and covers across English and Spanish and earned strong acclaim in Spain. She continued the partnership with Calamento on the live album Wait No More (2019), recorded at Barcelona’s Luz de Gas in September 2018.
In May 2020 Sparks curated the multi-artist compilation Amor en los Tiempos de Cuarentena, spotlighting performers whose tours had been halted by the COVID-19 pandemic. That month she also produced Sonrían, Por Favor for Alma de Boquerón. From 2019 to 2020 she served as Secretary of the Musicians Union of Catalunya. While still under lockdown she and her band remotely recorded a version of David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World,” which appeared later in the year and was subsequently included on a limited-edition vinyl pressing of El Mar issued in July 2021 to commemorate her tenth year in Barcelona.
Albums
Cabinet of Curiosities, Vol. 2
2026
Cabinet of Curiosities, Vol. 1
2026
La Huerta
2017
El Mar
2014
The Scorpion in the Story
2009
Under This Yellow Sun
2007
Rivers + Roads
2004
Singles
Live
