With
Ashes Are Burning Renaissance made a deliberate choice to head in a more acoustic direction, in order to accommodate their folk-influenced style and differentiate themselves from the many electric guitar-dominated bands on the scene. Because Renaissance were between guitarists at the time, bassist Jon Camp played most of the guitars on the album.
Michael Dunford, who had been working with Renaissance in a composer-only role, also played acoustic guitar on a few tracks. He later rejoined the band, but only after
Ashes Are Burning had been released, so he is accordingly listed as a guest musician. Most of the songwriting for the album was handled through the mail. Dunford would send a tape containing a melody line to
Betty Thatcher, who composed the lyrics, and Dunford then mailed a tape of himself singing the completed song to Renaissance, who put together the arrangements in the studio. After setting up to record at
De Lane Lea Studios, the band brought on Dick Plant, an engineer at the studios, as co-producer. The band were impressed with his work on the album, leading them to retain him as co-producer for their next album. ==Songs==