Natalie Merchant's tour with music from her recent Nonesuch debut album, Leave Your Sleep, resumes in the US next week following a stop in the UK this weekend, when Merchant closes out a day of music at the Cambridge Folk Festival Saturday night. The next stop on her US tour is the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, Colorado, on Tuesday.

In the mean time, fans on both sides of the Atlantic can pick up a newly released iTunes Session Merchant recorded at the Clubhouse Studio in New York's Hudson Valley in December 2009, featuring reimagined original music, like "Break Your Heart" "Kind & Generous," and "Build a Levee," and cover songs, including Randy Newman's classic "Political Science" and the Harold Arlen / Yip Harburg favorite "If I Only Had a Brain." To preview the tracks and order the Session now, head to iTunes.

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Earlier this week, Merchant's US tour brought her and her eight-piece band to the Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Monday. While the summer evening light and the more relaxed nature of the outdoor setting prompted a few last-minute changes in the set order, Merchant adapted with aplomb and good humor, offering the sold-out crowd "compelling songs, tight musicianship and Merchant's strong vocals," according to the Grand Rapids Press, which gives the concert 3.5 out of 4 stars. Reviewer John Sinkevics says that any adjustment that was made to accommodate the surroundings, "produced such a unique and unpredictable show that it became a real experience."

Read the concert review at mlive.com.

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Last Friday's concert at the Riverside Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, resulted in a similarly "playful" set, says the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Performing songs from Leave Your Sleep, with its multitude of musical styles, meant Merchant "was not hobbled by lack of variety, invention or savvy," writes reviewer Jon M. Gilbertson. "Nor was Merchant hobbled by her voice, which remains a kind of modern female counterpart to Art Garfunkel at his most open-throated. Just as she adapted her music to whatever the poems required, she adapted her voice to whatever the music called upon her to do."

This broad range of musical styles certainly contributed the evening's playful feel. Says Gilbertson: "It also meant that, supported by a band of seven people handling the instrumentation with stellar panache, she could dance across the stage with thoughtful grace and a touch of sauciness."

Read more at jsonline.com.

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For more on Merchant's tour, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. To pick up a copy of Leave Your Sleep, head to the Nonesuch Store.