Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter Genres Folk music, Pop music | Years active 1986-present | |
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Instruments Vocals, guitar, mandolin Website www.theburnssisters.com Origin Ithaca, New York, United States (1986) Albums Tradition: Holiday Songs Old & New, Songs of the Heart, Close to Home, In This World, The Hills of Ithaca, Out of the Blue Record labels Rounder Records, Columbia Records Similar Jimmy LaFave, Bob Childers, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Joel Rafael, Joe Crookston Profiles | ||
The Burns Sisters are an American folk music group from Ithaca, New York known for their tight harmonies. The group has performed and recorded in various sibling constellations, currently consisting of sisters Marie and Annie. They have toured with Arlo Guthrie providing backup vocals and occasionally performing as his opening act.
Contents
The burns sisters band listen to the beat of a heart 1986
Early life
The Burn Sisters were raised as members of a large Irish Catholic family of 12 children in Binghamton, New York. Their music has been influenced by their father's political activism and their mother's background as classically trained opera singer. Singing, playing, and writing music was a family tradition.
Career
The Burns Sisters' professional musical career began when several of the sisters moved to Ithaca, New York where they originally sang with the David Kent Band. One of their earliest successes was when their music appeared in the Louis Malle film Atlantic City as a result of their (best looking) brother Patrick who was working on the film. As a quintet made up of sisters Marie, Annie, Jeannie, Sheila, and Terry, the band released The Burns Sisters Band (1986), and Endangered Species (1989) before splitting up for a few years. In 1993 the quintet released Songs of the Heart before older sisters Terry and Sheila dropped out to devote more time to their families. Agreeing to continue as a trio, Annie, Marie and Jeannie switched their focus to acoustic music.
Marie and Annie have been the primary writers and producers of the group. Most performances are with a full band which includes a dobro player, guitarist, and Marie Burns on mandolin.
In 1995 they signed with Rounder/Philo Records and went on to release four albums for the label over the next several years, including 1996's holiday album titled Tradition: Holiday Songs Old and New which was reviewed for the Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange. Their 1997 album In This World was produced by bassist Garry Tallent who added a dash of rock to their sound.
In 2004 The Burns Sisters met Arlo Guthrie at the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. This meeting resulted in the sisters touring with Arlo in 2005 on his "Arlo Guthrie and Friends Ridin' on the City of New Orleans - Benefiting Victims of Katrina" tour and again on his "The Lost World Tour" in 2008-09.
In 2012, the Burns Sisters released the album, The Hills of Ithaca. The title was inspired by a 1947 Woody Guthrie poem which the Burn Sisters put to music after being given the unpublished version by Woody's daughter, Nora Guthrie. The album also includes Bob Childers' song, "Prisoner of the Promised Land" written in Okemah, Oklahoma, while attending the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival. The album includes two songs by Jeannie Burns: "Underbelly Blues" which she co-wrote with Andrew Hardin – her partner in the duo Hardin Burns – and “Your Kiss,” which she wrote with Hardin and her sister, Marie.
Jeannie Burns left the band in 2013 to study guitar and songwriting, with Marie and Annie now performing as a duo.
Songs
Songs We Love1996
Children Go Where I Send Thee1996
The Hills of IthacaThe Hills of Ithaca · 2012