New-look Burney Sisters showcase artistic progression at Knuckleheads

The Burney Sisters. // photo courtesy the artist

Hours before Columbia duo The Burney Sisters took to the Gospel Lounge stage at Knuckleheads on the eve of July 21, Emma Burney, 15—the elder of the two siblings currently in the lineup—spent her savings on her very first car, a Honda Element.

Earlier this year, Emma had inherited the frontwomen role for the youngest blend of folk-rock in the state as she took up the mantle from elder sister Olivia, 18, who had departed the group to pursue a solo career.

Backed that night by younger sister Bella, 13, and frequently joined by guest artist and friend, Sharai Brandy, 16, Emma spent her time onstage in an element of her own design.

With Bella stepping up and even performing a solo piece or two, and Emma dazzling in frequent moments that showcased her growth as an artist on vocals, piano, guitar, violin, and even the cello, the state of the sisterhood seems as strong as ever.

The Burney Sisters. // photo by Tyler Schneider

The show opened with “Two of Us,” the Beatles track, followed by “Person You Want Me To Be,” a recent original written and performed by Emma.

The setlist included a few other Burney-penned songs, including “End of the Year,” “Fallin’ Fallin’,” “Elaine,” “Not Sure You’re the Same,” and “Half Hearted Sorry,” but, as the duo is still working on their first release from this new era, the covers were where this new iteration of the band found opportunities to display their own diverse musical chops.

In the first hour, this included “I Can Change” by Lake Street Dive, “The Hawk” by Molly Healey, “Sink to the Bottom,” by Fountains of Wayne, “Luckiest Man,” by the Wood Brothers, “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” by everyone who’s anyone, and a Brandy-led take on “Facing West” by The Staves.

A true highlight for me came when Emma launched into Billy Joel’s “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song),” a top-shelfer amongst my own favorites from his never-ending list of bangers.

“Make Your Own Kind of Music,” the 1969 single by Mama Cass Elliot, was up next, with Bella returning to the stage to pluck her glittery-silver custom five-string Valenti bass—a cherished object from a late-friend who passed away in 2021.

“Shoutout to Bella’s look—very 70’s,” Emma says before they go into it. “Very Barbie!” somebody in the audience replies. The song and reference melded into a triumphant snapshot of our current pop-culture zeitgeist.

The Burney Sisters. // photo by Tyler Schneider

“I didn’t realize there were two Billy Joel songs in this,” Emma says afterwards while glancing at the setlist. “You can’t have too much, though.” They have tickets to see Joel and Stevie Nicks at Arrowhead in August.

Now back behind the keys, Emma is again alone onstage offering up a wonderful rendition of Joel’s “Vienna.” It was one of the best moments of the evening and powerfully at-home in the Gospel Lounge. “I just love playin’ that song. Thank you Billy Joel!” Emma says in her very slight Ozark twang after hitting the final notes.

The next entry, Emma explained, was “what we thought was an Adele tune for so long, because we grew up on the Adele version.”

“But like every good song, Bob Dylan wrote it,” she added to great effect as they hit the opening notes on “To Make You Feel My Love.” A flickering into the intro on piano, leads into some more impressive harmonic blends from the sisters.

Having covered a great many Avett Brothers songs and even sharing the stage with them in the past, one would be safe in hoping that one of the North Carolinian quartet’s thumping folk-rock jams would be included in the set here. It finally came as the sisters rocked “True Sadness,” another very memorable performance of many on the night and as polished as anything else in their repertoire.

After that, Emma took up her strings for a beautiful extended cello loop and then ended up grabbing her Glasser NY violin for some bodacious bowing. I didn’t know what this was at the time, and later looked it up to discover an excellent video of, again, Molly Healey, who originally wrote this arrangement, titled “Flight”. The original is definitely worth a look.

Emma herself penned the next one, “Elaine,” perhaps the most memorable original piece I heard that night. “Can’t Help Fallin In Love,” originally by Elvis, came next as both sisters and Brandy each grabbed a micstand.

“We were practicing this one the other day, and Sharai (Brandy) started singing along, and we’re like, ‘yep, that’s going in the set’,” Emma says. It was the right call.

This was followed by an original, “Not Sure You’re the Same,” which had a bit of a late ‘90s No Doubt kind of feel as performed entirely by Bella on guitar. It was a great moment that drew applause for the younger sister, who has come into her own as a musician alongside Emma since she first joined the fold in 2019, making the group a trio for a time.

Unapologetic in their appreciation of Adam Levine’s contributions to pop music, the sisters came in hot with their own version of “This Love” by Maroon 5. This marked the final leg of the setlist, which included covers of “I Hear Them All,” by Old Crow Medicine Show, “Blue Bird” by Paul McCartney, and a medley-finale consisting of “Blouse,” the original “Half Hearted Sorry,” and “Water Witch.”

After the show, Emma Burney packed up her gear and hit the road in her new whip, presumably with a big smile. It had been a great night, but she was already set to hit the road for another weekend performance in Iowa.

In another quick turnaround, Emma and Bella Burney will be in Denver this weekend, where they’ll play a pair of house concerts as well as attend Song School by Planet Bluegrass. Their next public gig will be at the Missouri State Fair on Tuesday, August 15.

—Upcoming shows

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—Find recent performances on their YouTube channel.