MINTON SPARKS: This Dress

Minton Sparks

This Dress

© 2003 Minton Sparks (634479285691)

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Spoken word with music, featuring Keb Mo' and Maura O'Connell

tracks

1 Fill Her UP
2 Sorrow Knows This Dress
3 Bird in a Cage
4 When You Comin Home Girl?
5 Ambulance Chaser
6 Her Purse
7 Dance Caller at the Marco Polo Park
8 Killin' Time
9 I Thought He Might Kill Her
10 Momma Flies a Car
11 Epihany
12 Put Her To Rest

notes

Writer Dorothy Allison says, "Minton Sparks sounds like my momma, my Aunt Dot, my Aunt Grace and even a bit like my Uncle Jack-only better and wilder and heartbreakingly more powerful. If I could have heard poetry like this as a girl, I wouldn't have had to waste all those years thinking we were dumb as dirt."



Nobody strikes the very core of rural southern women like Nashville performance poet, Minton Sparks. Sparks brand new CD, THIS DRESS, wears perfectly. The wildly original spoken word artist pens and performs deep, dark poetry collaborations that may literally curl your hair, and shock your shoes off. Each piece casting a Southern spell over listeners; they arrive square in the middle of an unforgettable people and place!



Sparks collaborates with the best in the business. Grammy winner, Keb Mo', lends his unmistakable chops on "Ambulance Chasers," where a young girl stumbles upon "the first dead body I ever saw, stinking fish-white beneath a sheet." Irish singer/songwriter Maura O'Connell haunting voice threads the needle for THIS DRESS behind "Sorrow Knows This Dress." and "Put Her To Rest." Producer, Steve Conn, creates conversations with his powerful piano chops. 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.



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 Oxford, Mississippi's Thacker Mountain Radio Show, Nashville's Bluebird Café', Douglas Corner, Sutlers' Talkabilly Theater, Davis Kidd Book Sellers, 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 with audiences nationwide. Earlier this month she brought down the house at My Sister's Room in Atlanta, Georgia as part of the Women's Music and Art Festival LADYFEST SOUTH and received wide spread praise Exoterica's reading series in the Bronx. She showed her slip alongside performance artist, Karen Finley, at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.





Minton is available for personal appearances by contacting mintonsparks@mindspring.com

reviews

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  • So unusual and so expressive/heartfelt - fabulous
    author: Nicola Kennaugh

    I heard 'This Dress' on BBC Radio 2's Bob Harris show and was mesmerised. Living here in the UK, it was so different from the usual spoken word/poetry. It is so wonderfully descriptive and evocative, seared with emotion and delivered with Minton's wonderful southern voice - very hard to get hold of in the UK so thankfully, via the internet, I was able to get a copy sent from the US. It is possibly the most unusual CD I own. I rate it very highly.

  • author: CD Baby

    In this sensory-rich gem of home-grown, wholesome spoken word poetry with musical performances by Keb Mo and Maura O'Connell, you can expect to be lulled and tickled with the simple, revealing and pointed images of Minton Sparks that weave vivid images of then and now for the dreams and memoirs of a country girl. Kick back with a glass of lemonade and step back in time.

  • Really enjoyed this one.
    author: Tamara Turner, CD Baby.com Music Editor and Reviewer

    In this sensory-rich gem of home-grown, wholesome spoken word poetry with musical performances by Keb Mo and Maura O'Connell, you can expect to be lulled and tickled with the simple, revealing and pointed images of Minton Sparks that weave vivid images of then and now for the dreams and memoirs of a country girl. Kick back with a glass of lemonade and step back in time.

  • Her versatile talent is evident in this CD
    author: Henry Langhorne

    As a gifted poet and performer Minton Sparks plucks the forgotten heart strings of every small town Southerner with these brilliant chapters of childhood. Scriptwriter,social worker,divinity school student,college basketball player, experimental educator and teacher,advocate of women's isues and consummate mother---what do you call her? Renaissance woman...saint.

  • this record is a spoken word masterpiece
    author: hazel landsing

    Minton Sparks creates a brand new genre with this spoken word masterpiece. The conversation between the magical poetry and the haunting music are something to behold. This record changes the way I listen to everything!

  • Minton Sparks poetry sets fire to Appalachian memories
    author: Molly Secours

    Wow! Minton Sparks poetry sets fire to Appalachian memories that city folk are desperate to steal and make their own. She inspires yearning for an unfamiliar life with an intoxicating voice and a cadence reminiscent with the smoothest cognac ever sipped. For country folk, Sparks's stories are home, meat and potatoes with a little whisky to wash it down. And often, she is a reflection of times best forgotten. Minton Sparks tells stories that no one has written and no one else could tell. The musical genius of Keb Mo, Maura O'Connell and producer, Steve Conn make this CD a national treasure. Thanks, Minton!

  • heart-touching moments these poems carve out so beautifully
    author: Edward Martin

    Listening to these slice-of-life short stories told in southern poetry with a background of flavorful music left me aching for more. I want to hear what happened next to these colorful characters out of Ms. Sparks' past. At the same time I feel deeply satisfied to have gotten such an entertaining glimpse into each heart-touching moment these poems carve out so beautifully. Thank you Minton for the inspiration.

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