Minton Sparks

In the traditionally conservative landscape of southern country-folk, Nashville poet Minton Sparks illustrated how literary, artistic blends of spoken word and folk traditions could still find space. Her concise narratives, laced at times with melancholy and sharp wit, mirror the everyday rhythms of rural southern existence. On the 2001 Middlin' Sisters album she paired her crisp, radio-friendly storytelling delivery with understated Appalachian-style folk arrangements played on guitar, mandolin, dobro, mandola, and banjo.