When Laura Veirs picks up the cellphone on Thanksgiving morning in America, she has no problem coming up with a list of things she’s completely happy for. The fact that every major retailer in America is getting ready for the consumer-culture animal show known as Black Friday is not one of them.

In a van that’s headed toward Iowa for a mid-tour dinner date with friends, the Portland-based Veirs says: “Last night, on-stage, I was feeling grateful for my band for coming out on tour with me. For the opportunity that I’ve had to self-release my new album”¦.And I’m grateful that we’re out here on the road, opening shows where we are casting seeds so that when we do our own headlining tour in February, things will be even better.”

The record she speaks of is the uniformly excellent July Flame, of which Veirs has been selling upward of 80 copies per night on the road, pretty great when you consider that all the profits benefit her own Raven Marching Band Records. The tours that have driven those sales are separate North American swings with fellow Rose City acts the Decemberists and Blind Pilot, both of which have exposed her to audiences who largely have never heard of her. Veirs notes that, even though she has seven albums under her belt, she has to date focussed on building her career in Europe. And when she has toured North America in the past for releases like 2004’s Carbon Glacier on Nonesuch, things didn’t go the way she had hoped.

“The Carbon Glacier tour was miserable because no one knew about the record—there were many shows where there were about five people there.”

If Veirs is considerably more optimistic about what the future holds for July Flame, it’s because she’s made one of the great albums of the year. It’s the off-kilter touches that elevate the songs to something grand, like how the title track starts out sounding like a sweeter version of early Cat Power only to shift in a more opulent direction once the symphonic strings and girl-group handclaps arrive. Just as impressive is the artful blending of slo-mo chamber pop and back-porch folk in “Where Are You Driving?” or the way “Summer Is the Champion” employs retro-riffic MOR horns and propulsive piano to create the perfect soundtrack for a sunny spring day.

Understandably ecstatic as she is at the way things turned out, Veirs acknowledges that the songs didn’t come easy, despite the fact that she’s always been a prolific writer.

“I kind of had a crisis of faith, to be honest,” she says. “I was writing so many songs that didn’t appeal to me. It was like they were boring to me on some level.”

When the dam finally broke, July Flame started coming in a rush. And while it’s been a challenge recreating songs like the haunting anti-war soldier’s tale “Sleeper in the Valley” on-stage, Veirs says that has ultimately given her something to be thankful for on a daily basis.

“I like the guitar part in that song [“Sleeper in the Valley”] because it’s kind of unusual—kind of polyrhythmic,” Veirs says. “That made it hard to learn to sing and play at the same time. Pulling it off live was a challenge—I had to rewire my brain. But that’s what I was struggling for—a way to surprise myself. That’s what keeps things interesting.”

Laura Veirs plays the Biltmore tonight (December 3).