Minton Sparks

On her third CD, Sin Sick, wildly original spoken-word
artist and master storyteller MINTON SPARKS lays out her
poems like a desperate ransom. For listeners it is sweet
release. The ache and weight of this collection takes us
from sin to salvation and back again. Legendary songwriter
John Prine says of Sin Sick: "It's humanity with humidity,
all told humorously with humility - and just what the
doctor ordered."

Sparks' debut on Dualtone, Middlin' Sisters, was "one of
the finest spoken word recordings issued in America in more
than ten years" according to reviewer Thom Jurek. On that
recording she had a chance to collaborate with the late,
legendary, Waylon Jennings, and current singer/songwriter
sensation Darryl Scott. Her second CD, This Dress, won
Spoken Word Record of the Year in 2004 with the Just Plain
Folk Music Awards, and got the nod from the Chicago Sun
Times for Top Five Off the Beaten Path Records of
2003. "This Dress" features collaborations with artists
like Keb' Mo' and Irish singer, Maura O'Connell.

Sin Sick, produced by Grammy winning Gary Paczosa, takes us
down into the soul's dark struggle but we come up out of
her words washed over, delivered. The title cut reveals a
man twisted into thinking it's better to kill himself
rather than pay the spiritual wages of the sin of divorce.
And it only gets better... Nickel Creek's, Chris Thile,
divines a heartbreakingly pure mandolin interpretation of
the moonshine cut, "White Lightening" and has us following
Sparks "deep off into her family's dark woods". It is on
her pilgrimage poem, "Eastern Star", that listeners are
invited to "wind up wandering back home, into their very
own Promise-land". Sparks brings back piano virtuoso, Steve
Conn, on two cuts "Sin Sick" and "South of Decent"; and he
adds accordion on the other- worldly "Gypsy". Abigail
Washburn's banjo on "Peeping Tom" is simple, beautiful and
haunting. These musicians perfectly compliment Sparks live
foil, John Jackson,

Minton Sparks unique brand of poetry has appeared on
National Public Radio's, Weekend All Things Considered and
the internationally syndicated WoodSongs Old-Time Radio
Hour, which is heard in over 13 countries world-wide as
well as being cybercast on the internet. Performed at New
York City's Bowery Ballroom opening for the likes of Ben
Folds, and at the Bowery Poetry Club in the village, She
received rave reviews recently in Santa Barbara, California
at the Trinity Backstage Songwriter Series; also she
performed at Oxford, Mississippi's Thacker Mountain Radio
Show, Nashville's Bluebird Café', Station Inn, Mercy
Lounge, Douglas Corner, Sutlers' Talkabilly Theater, Davis
Kidd Book Sellers, and the Southern Festival of Books.
Minton Sparks travels extensively, performing at various
Universities, clubs, and music and poetry festivals sharing
her brand of performance poetry and her workshops on
creative writing with audiences nationwide

Sparks graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1991 with a
master's of education in Human Development Counseling.
Awarded the "Leonard Bernstein Fellowship" in 1998, Sparks
soon began to teach poetry within the Tennessee high school
system offering classes that were funded by the fellowship.
Sparks serves as adjunct professor of Psychology at
Tennessee State University in addition to teaching several
classes in Women's Psychology at Middle Tennessee State
University in 1994.