Tori Sparks
Encyclopedia
Tori Sparks 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 four recordings: Tidewaters, Rivers + Roads, Under This Yellow Sun and The Scorpion in the Story. . 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 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.
. 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).
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 30,000 copies in Europe.
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 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 Folkwaxhttp://www.americana-uk.com/auk/index.php?name=Reviews&req=showcontent&id=5350, Americana UK, 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 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 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.
Sparks is currently interviewed monthly on the subject of DIY in the music business by Dream Row magazine, and in Spring 2011 was a guest on nationally-syndicated Music Business Radio hosted by David Hooper. 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. Tori will be a guest on Madrid’s Radio Tres Television in September 2011.
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 2010, Tori debuted a new song called “Letter to a Wretch #2” (featuring Shawn Mullins), which was made available only as a free download on the mobile version of her website, a.k.a. ToriMobile. The mobile site was featured by the Los Angeles Times tech blog “Not Quite”, and on the Sin City Sampler: Volume 13.
Tori has sung duets with D.W. DeHart on his song “Pale Sorghum Lo-Fi Blues” from Pale Sorghum Lo-Fi Blues (DeHorn Boys Music, 2007), and with Jeff Kuykendall on his single “Mr. Bickle” from Wooden Music for a Plastic World. (In Production, 2009). She co-wrote the song "Blackbird" with Caroline Brewer, which appears on Caroline's album "A Me-Shaped Hole".
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. She is interviewed monthly for a column on DIY in the music business for Dream Row Magazine.
Biography
Tori was born just outside of ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. 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.
Tidewaters EP
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. Sparks signed a developmental deal with PPUR in 2003.Rivers + Roads
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 AtkinsChet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
. The album featured a number of Nashville session musicians, such as Kerry Marx, who has played with Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. 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
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
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
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
Glass Mountain Records
Glass Mountain Records is an American independent record label that was launched in 2007. It was created by singer-songwriter Tori Sparks, and represents an example of the DIY business model that has become popular among musicians since the 1990s....
) 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 30,000 copies in Europe.
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 Folkwaxhttp://www.americana-uk.com/auk/index.php?name=Reviews&req=showcontent&id=5350, Americana UK, 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 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.
Sparks is currently interviewed monthly on the subject of DIY in the music business by Dream Row magazine, and in Spring 2011 was a guest on nationally-syndicated Music Business Radio hosted by David Hooper. 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. Tori will be a guest on Madrid’s Radio Tres Television in September 2011.
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 2010, Tori debuted a new song called “Letter to a Wretch #2” (featuring Shawn Mullins), which was made available only as a free download on the mobile version of her website, a.k.a. ToriMobile. The mobile site was featured by the Los Angeles Times tech blog “Not Quite”, and on the Sin City Sampler: Volume 13.
Tori has sung duets with D.W. DeHart on his song “Pale Sorghum Lo-Fi Blues” from Pale Sorghum Lo-Fi Blues (DeHorn Boys Music, 2007), and with Jeff Kuykendall on his single “Mr. Bickle” from Wooden Music for a Plastic World. (In Production, 2009). She co-wrote the song "Blackbird" with Caroline Brewer, which appears on Caroline's album "A Me-Shaped Hole".
Activism
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, 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. She is interviewed monthly for a column on DIY in the music business for Dream Row Magazine.
Albums and EPs
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Tidewaters EP | Self-Released |
| 2005 | Rivers+Roads | Platinum Plus Universal Records |
| 2007 | Little Stories EP (Digital Release Only) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2007 | Under This Yellow Sun | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2009 | The Scorpion in the Story | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2011 | Until Morning/Come Out of the Dark | Glass Mountain Records |
Vinyl
| Year | Video | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Until Morning/Come Out of the Dark | Glass Mountain Records |
Videos
| Year | Video | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "Rivers+Roads" (music video) | Platinum Plus Universal Records |
| 2007 | Behind The Scenes: Screen Printing Madness with Tori Sparks | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2007 | Tori Sparks with Producer David Henry: The Making of Under This Yellow Sun | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2007 | "Cold War" (music video) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2009 | "Merry Go-Round” (music video) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2009 | "Live at The Rutledge”Concert DVD | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2011 | "Mama” Music Video | Glass Mountain Records |
Singles
| Year | Song | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | "Trouble" (Rivers+Roads) | Platinum Plus |
| 2005 | "Rivers+Roads" (Rivers+Roads) | Platinum Plus |
| 2007 | "Cold War" (Under This Yellow Sun) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2007 | "Hope for Me" (Christmas Single Release Only) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2009 | "Tall Towers” (The Scorpion in the Story) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2009 | "Little Wrecking Ball” (The Scorpion in the Story) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2010 | "Letter tp a Wretch#2” (Digital Release Only) | Glass Mountain Records |
| 2011 | "Mama" | Glass Mountain Records |
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)
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)
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.Awards
- Top 12 DIY Downloads: Performing Songwriter magazine (July 2008) (“Caged Bird”)
- Cashville 411: Top Ten Tracks of 2007 (“Caged Bird”)
- Selection – 2008 Florida Music Festival Indie Film Jam (“Cold War”)
- Finalist – 2007 Unisong International Songwriting Contest (“Cold War”)
- Best Pop Video – 2006 Indie Gathering (“Rivers + Roads”)
- Selection – 2006 Flint Film Festival (“Rivers + Roads”)
- Recipient—2007 ASCAPlus Award
- Recipient—2006 ASCAPlus Award
- Recipient—2005 ASCAPlus Award
- Finalist—2005 Unisong International Songwriting Contest (“The Poster Child”)