A folk music group from Ithaca, New York consisting of the sisters Jeannie Burns, Annie Burns and Marie Burns.
They started as five sisters of a family of 12 from Binghamton, New York where their father was mayor and later state Democratic committee chairman. In 1986 they released a pop album for Columbia Records titled The Burns Sisters with a kind of Bangles-ish feel. Columbia dropped them weeks before the release of their 1989 followup Endangered Species which was a gutsier, more Pat Benatar-ish rock.
In 1992 they independently released the folk/acoustic Songs of the Heart; soon afterwards the group essentially disbanded. Three of the sisters, Jeannie, Marie and Annie reunited and re-settled in Ithaca to create 1995's Close To Home which continued in the folk vein but also incorporated Annie's tenedency toward pop, Marie's bluegrass influence, and Jeannie's belt-it-out blues/gospel style. This was their first recording for the Philo imprint of the Rounder label.
Future albums continued to combine the sisters' distinct singing and songwriting styles while honing their lush three-part harmony. In 1996 they released Tradition (an album of holiday music), followed by In This World in 1997 and Out Of The Blue in 2000.
Like many neo-folk artists, their music crosses genres but mainly falls under the Americana or roots umbrella. The Burns Sisters are a bit less Nashville than Mary Chapin Carpenter but not quite so Northeast as the Nields or Dar Williams. | 
