Sarah Burton

Singer-songwriter, Sarah Burton has called Austin home part time since 2019, but her true home may be the road. Originally from Toronto, Burton’s career started with a broken heart, a broken down van, and a haphazard tour across Canada in a van named Lucky. This set the tone for an artist life driven by adventure, spontaneity, and a desire to connect with people from all walks of life. 3 minivans, and hundreds of songs later, Sarah has released 5 albums, toured Canada and the U.S. extensively, playing 150-200 shows a year, and been selected for festivals and conferences across North America, including Red Ants Pants (Montana), MerleFest (North Carolina), CMW, NXNE, CMJ, and SXSW. She has shared the stage with the likes of international heavyweight singer/songwriters Jim Lauderdale, Susan Gibson, Gordie Johnson, and Mary Gauthier. Sarah’s songs have made their way to the big screen, earned college radio charting in the US and Canada and commercial radio play in Canada and Europe.

After 10 years in the Toronto music community, Burton decided to trade the Canadian winters for the hot Texas music scene, inspiring her 2019 release, Give Me What I Want. Give Me What I Want is a raw and real album that skirts Americana, folk, rock and country; the songs tell classic stories in a modern age from love and lust, to enchantment and disenchantment, and that constant search for fulfillment.

The album was recorded in Austin at Jim Eno’s (Spoon) Public Hi-Fi studio, produced by Elijah Ford (who also plays guitars on the record) and engineered by Brad Bell (Spoon, Arcade Fire, The War On Drugs). Tracks feature Chris Konte on bass, Jason Baczynski on drums and percussion, aes well as special guests: Tim Regan on keys/synth, Sam Kossler on pedal steel, Leigh Wallenhaupt on strings, Canadian folk trio Sweet Alibi on backing vocals, and Dave Quanbury on guitar and engineering in Canada.

Ford, Bell, Burton and Konte have since reunited at Public Hifi to record and release 2 follow-up singles: LOGAN (a bar-anthem about a West Texas bartender, released 2020), and I’m on Fire (a trainwreck love-song, released 2021).

“‘Give Me What I Want’ has gentle melodic moments, and Burton is possessed of a voice that can soothe and embrace, but she is not averse to accelerating to rocker velocity to match tracks orchestrated with feedback and corrosive guitars…An authentic, inspired artist, Burton has clearly paid her proverbial dues.” – Dan Kimpel, Music Connection, May 2019

“Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah Burton’s decision to travel from Toronto to Texas was the inspirational fuel she needed to craft the genre-blurring collection of stellar songs on her fifth studio effort Give Me What I Want, available now. Trying to pinpoint what so-called ‘category’ of music Burton’s sonic portraits fall under is as futile an attempt as trying to tame her yearning to live life untethered from conventional societal and creative norms. Not unlike most, Burton has had her share of good times and bad. But unlike most, she has the uncanny ability to shake off the chains that bind by sketching song lyrics that both amaze and inspire.” – Jim Villanueva, All Access Music, 3/1/19

“This album from Sarah Burton is fresh and relevant as she tackles many of the social issues of the day…it’s Sarah’s versatility that drives the music, as she moves seamlessly from Americana, folk, rock and country. The songs tell stories in a modern age language that interprets into a unique mix.” – Jan Sikes, Buddy Magazine, April 2019

“Folk-rock starlet Sarah Burton, whose aesthetic clicks and flicks between glitter-pop and earthy Americana, clinks her emotional currency together and watches as the discs bounce from her chest and down a chute of potential rediscovery in self-worth.” – Jason Scott, B-Sides & Badlands, 4/17/19