A classically trained violinist, and conversant in fiddle tunes, Burson began playing guitar while studying history at Brown University. After college and a year in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, Burson returned to Tennessee where she recorded with T-Bone Burnett. Of her musical objectives, indie songstress Clare Burson explains, “I’ve always leaned towards poetic simplicity and subtlety in my music—wanting to express as much as I can with the fewest possible words and musical flourishes.”
Burson builds upon this aesthetic with SILVER & ASH, her most ambitious project yet. SILVER & ASH is an album, performance piece, and songbook that imagines her grandmother's life in Germany, from her birth in 1919 to her escape in 1938.