Sam Phillips, a songwriter and vocalist who recorded several albums for Virgin America, including the Grammy-nominated Martinis and Bikinis, produced by T Bone Burnett, had never imagined scoring for TV until Amy Sherman-Palladino asked her to compose and perform the music for Gilmore Girls. While scoring the show, Sam continued to release critically-acclaimed albums for Nonesuch Records: Fan Dance (2001), A Boot and a Shoe (2004) and Don’t Do Anything (2008). Her song “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us” from Don’t Do Anything was recorded by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss on their 2009 Grammy-winning Album of the Year, Raising Sand. After leaving Nonesuch, Sam launched a forward-thinking subscription-based art and music installation, comprised of five digital-only EPs and one full album, followed by three independently-released albums Push Any Button (2013), World On Sticks (2018) and Cold Dark Night (2019). Concurrently Sam composed the score for another Amy Sherman-Palladino show, Bunheads, as well as the first season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She also collaborated with T Bone Burnett on the score of Steven Bochco’s Murder In the First. Sam appeared in the films Die Hard With a Vengeance and Wim Wender’s The End of Violence. Her songs have been featured in Bernardo Bertolucci’s Stealing Beauty, Crazy Heart, Ruby in Paradise, Gilmore Girls, Bunheads and Ray Donovan.
Sam is currently finishing a new album slated for release in 2026.
