Sam Phillips begins her two-week tour of the US, with songs from her new album, Don't Do Anything, at the end of this week, beginning with two nights at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music. To catch a glimpse of Sam on stage, go to nonesuch.com/media for a video of Sam's record-release show at the new Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles earlier this summer. She performs the Stephin Merritt tune "Underwear," from The Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs.

The Chicago Tribune's Greg Kot spoke with Sam about making Don't Do Anything and the inspiration behind its songs. You can read the article in Kot's Tribune blog, Turn It Up, at leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com.

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The new album is now available in the UK, and reviews are in. The Sunday Times (UK) gives it four stars, with reviewer Mark Edwards calling attention to the track "Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us," which Sam wrote and T Bone Burnett brought to the Robert Plant / Alison Krauss collaboration, Raising Sand, as producer of that project. Says Edwards: "[I]f you’re one of the many won over by that album, then perhaps it’s also time that you joined Phillips’s small but devoted band of followers."

The Scottish Daily Express and Q magazine each gives the album four stars as well, citing "Sister Rosetta" too, the latter placing it among the 50 Essential Tracks of the October issue.

The Sun gives it four-and-a-half stars and describes Sam as "a talent who has stayed true to herself." The review credits her taking on the additional role of producer for the new record as an experience that "has done her a power of good," pointing to tracks like "Shake It Down" "and the winsome title track" as "first class."

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For information on Sam's upcoming tour of the States, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.