Chelsea Burns is a scholar of Latin American concert music of the twentieth century as well as bluegrass, country, and old-time musics. She is especially interested in how specific contexts for music-making--economic, political, persona--should affect how we interpret and understand music. Her research suggests that contextual understanding can shape analysis in critical ways, at times undermining or reversing prevailing musical interpretations. Her work touches on issues of race, instrumental technologies, and expressions of privilege and class, among others. Professor Burns has presented papers at national conferences of the Society for Music Theory, the American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, the US chapter of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music, and the Latin American Studies Association. Her work has appeared in Music Theory Spectrum, Music Theory Online, Journal of Popular Music Studies, and Súmula: Revista de Teoría y Análisis de Música. Recent publications address issues of exoticism and modernism in relation to Brazilian indigeneity, the pedal steel guitar in 1960s country music, and issues of genre and race in 1970s country music.

She has also given public talks on Taylor Swift's re-recorded albums, and the relationship between re-creations and originals.

Locally, Dr. Burns is an active accordion player, Board Member (secretary) of the Central Texas Bluegrass Association, and member of the Austin Bicycle Advisory Council.