[1] After a journey to Hungary, Yugoslavia and Bosnia in the late 1980s, Sparks began an interest in Eastern European music.

He has described Guitar Bazaar as a fusion of Middle Eastern and American roots music.

The album includes arrangements of Béla Bartók's Romanian Dances.

[2] Guitar Player wrote in their review, "If you're getting complacent about your acoustic fingerpicking, you'd better hear Tim Sparks' new CD...

There's nothing forced or studied about his playing or compositions: his intense, on-the-edge attack speaks of many nights wailing around campfires in places most of us have never heard of.