[3] After performing in numerous high school musicals, Bright studied Drama[4] before earning a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Harvey, Björk, Tori Amos,[7] Tom waits, Yann tiersen, Gotan project,[8] Lhasa de Sela and The Tiger Lillies, Bright played in Mariachi, Balinese gamelan, Chinese, Ugandan,[9] Brazilian Samba and Indonesian ensembles.

[5] After graduate school, Bright traveled the world[3] where she studied flamenco dancing in Spain,[9] worked for the Montana Conservation Corps in Yellowstone National Park,[8] and became further acquainted with other cultures and their music.

Her "operatic voice teems with ethereal beauty"[18] and she plays many unusual instruments, including a musical saw, accordion,[19] keyboards, concertina,[20] adungu (Ugandan harp),[21] bombo (Argentinian drum),[20] zheng (zither),[9] piano,[16] guitar[8] and vihuela.

[22] Bright acted, sang and played music in two collaborations with mixed media sculptor Grey Pascal at Acme Art Studios in Wilmington, NC.

[25] Bright wrote, directed, produced and starred in the musical interpretive movement theater production "Illuminating and Transcending the Shadow," which featured her performing with her band the Silver Hands and a cast of 16 costumed actors.

[19] "There is a story called 'The Handless Maiden'," Bright said, "and it is about her losing her hands and gaining them back in the end, representing her coming into her full creative and soulful self, which I felt like I was doing then, and am still doing.

"[7] Compared to Kate Bush,[9] Gogol Bordello,[29] Danny Elfman,[30] and Amanda Palmer and Brian Viglione's The Dresden Dolls,[31][32] Bright creates "a haunted, whimsical, multicultural sonic cabaret"[33] – "the sound of dark fairy tales"[29] and "European carnivals.

"[21] With songs deeply rooted in folktales, fables,[36] myths and dream archetypes,[2] Bright's lyrics and melodies portray the world as a dark, strange and often funny place.

[4] Song topics include twists on Hans Christian Andersen's Little Match Girl and The Ugly Duckling, the Slavic witch Baba yaga, and the Inuit folk tale of the Skeleton Woman.

She has performed shows with artists including Beats Antique, Voltaire, Adam Arcuragi, The Love Language, Pearl and the Beard, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Rising Appalachia, Larkin Grimm and Lolo.

[38] Their self-titled debut album, Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands, was released in June 2010 to reviews praising its "experimental vaudeville" and "twisted carnival folk.