California harpist Gracie Sprout played the gig of a lifetime earlier this year when she accompanied singer Jhené Aiko on “American the Beautiful” in front of a Super Bowl audience of more than 112 million. As the TV cameras brought Sprout and her pedal harp into focus during the pregame festivities, football’s biggest night also felt like the harp’s biggest night. Across the U.S., harpists watching the performance cheered on Sprout like she was our hometown team. While the players on the field had to answer questions at the usual post-game press conference, harpists were left to wonder about about the answers to their burning questions for Sprout. Luckily, she was gracious enough to give the harp community the lowdown on everything we wanted to know—from the performance’s creative process to the shoes she wore on the field.
When you first found out that you were going to get to play the Super Bowl, what was your initial reaction?
I’ve been playing with Jhené Aiko for a while, but when I got the call about the Super Bowl, I had to have him repeat it a couple times. I said, “Wait, are you sure? Are you sure you’re talking about the Super Bowl? I was at lunch with a friend, and I had to step outside because I didn’t think I heard him right. It doesn’t sound like something that’s real. Originally they were just going to have [Jhené] perform by herself and just have us record a band track for her to sing over because they didn’t think there wasn’t going to be enough space for the whole band. I’m so grateful to our production manager and our tour manager who really convinced them to at least have the harp up there with [Jhené].
That’s amazing that they went to bat for you and made it happen.
Yes, they really pushed to get me on there. I think Jhené also wanted to have someone up there with her rather than being out there by herself. The “Star Spangled Banner “ had an entire choir up there, and I can’t imagine being up there completely on your own. So I’m really glad that I could be up there—it was an amazing experience.
Walk us through the creative process for coming up with the arrangement you did of “America the Beautiful.”
GS: A few weeks before, the band (keys, bass, drums, and harp) and the engineer got together and just started jamming on the song. As we started playing through it, [Jhené] had more ideas about what she wanted and the feeling she wanted.. We just jammed until it was something she liked. [Jhené] is very hands-on with her arrangements and her vision for what she wants her sound to be, which is really nice because it makes us more collaborative with the artist as musicians. It’s not like someone is writing out our parts for us, and we have to stick to what’s on the page. It’s very collaborative.
You played from memory at the Super Bowl, and you’ve been playing with Jhené for a while in performances that have to be memorized. What kinds of strategies do you use to memorize, especially for high-pressure gigs like the Super Bowl?
I practiced with a recording over and over and over. I studied at the University of Arizona with Dr. Carrol McLaughlin, and she always had us prepare by doing practice performances. So I would grab my friends and my fiance and ask them to come listen to me and make me nervous, because I don’t want the first time I’m playing this in front of people to be on TV for the Super Bowl. This really helps get those nerves out of the way.
Did you get to do a soundcheck prior to the performance? Did you have a sense of what the space would be like beforehand?
We had a tech rehearsal two days before where we just ran the whole pre-show a couple times with the camera blocking and the audio. That was really helpful, but nothing prepares you to be in front of that many people. It really felt like a dream.
Every harpist wants to know about the logistics for a gig like this—tell us about getting the harp there, security, etc.
They often will rent a harp for me so that I don’t have to deal with moving it and all that, but I actually convinced them to use my own harp for the Super Bowl. Because it was such a huge, momentous event, I really pushed to have my own harp there. I talked to the head of backline, that’s the supplier of the instruments and equipment, from the speakers to the piano benches to the microphones, for the whole production. We arranged that they would pick up my harp from my house in my big shipping crate. The harp is 100 years old and so is the shipping crate, so it looks like a coffin. [Laughs] So the guys came at the beginning of the week of the Super Bowl and picked it up in a huge semi truck and took her away. When I arrived for the soundcheck, I got to the loading dock and helped them take it out of the crate and made sure that it was okay. I made friends with the stage manager and everybody who was going to be around my harp so that they knew not to let it fall or something.
You have to put a lot of trust in their hands.
Yes, but when you’re working on such a large-scale project, there’s a lot of liability insurance.
Right. Tell us about your harp you performed on.
I bought the harp from a lady whose late husband’s mother played the harp. She had contacted a music store in Long Beach [California], which is where I’m from, looking for someone who wanted to buy it. She wanted maybe a young student or young professional that would use it because it had been sitting in her house for 40 years untouched. None of her kids wanted to play it, but it was an heirloom to her and she just wanted it to be in the right hands. So when you have a 100-year-old harp, it’s going to be warping. Plus I live by the beach, so it is in all of this humidity. I actually showed up to a wedding gig with this harp once, and I put her in the shade for 20 minutes before I was going to start the prelude. I took the case off, and the neck had snapped. The glue had finally given up, so I had to have the neck redone. So she’s got a 100 year old body and a brand new neck.
So on the day of the Super Bowl, your harp was already there. What time did you have to arrive at the stadium?
Whew, it was pretty early, I’m trying to remember exactly, but maybe around like 10 or 11 in the morning, and then we went on at 3 p.m. Most of that preparation time was just getting through security, doing the COVID protocol, and getting into wardrobe. Then we were able to just be there with the team getting mentally prepared.
Your dress was amazing—tell us about the wardrobe. Who chose it? Did you have any say in it?
Jhené was nice enough to include me in her wardrobe fittings. So I went to her house, and we worked with her stylists. They pulled things for me, and we would go back and forth between the dresses that she was considering and then what would go with that for me. I actually had two or three options on the day of, depending on the one that she ended up going with. It was really cool. [Jhené] also paid for my makeup. The artist came to my house at 6:00 in the morning, which was early, but she was doing Super Bowl parties all day long, so that was the only time she could come.
That’s wild! What about your shoes—did you get to chose those yourself? Shoe choice always matters for a pedal harpist.
The NFL actually had requirements on shoes because we were walking on the grass. They didn’t want any heels too thin that would puncture it. I wore a pair of close-toed, nude heels with a short, thick two-inch heel. Wardrobe pulled them for me, and I approved them.
How did they mic you?
I have a Dusty Strings pedal harp pickup in my harp. It’s made miking very easy, especially in situations where the harp is going to be gained up a lot. If you have a condenser mic, even if it has a small range of what it’s going to pick up, when you’re in a 70,000-person stadium, the mic is going to pick up the crowd noise. So having that pick up inside of the harp really helps isolate the actual sound [of the harp]. I use [the Dusty Strings pickup] almost exclusively for live performances. If it’s a recording session, then we will do a mix—we’ll have a microphone at the top and a microphone somewhere in the front for the low end, and then also plug in [the pickup] so we can just get a good mix of everything. It’s almost impossible to only use a normal mic in a live situation. I am lucky that Dusty Springs made that pickup, because it has saved me from a lot of sound issues.
During the day of the Super Bowl, did you have a pinch-me moment?
GS: I think it was when they escorted us onto the field, and I first saw how packed the stadium was. They were ushering us through crowds and pushing people to the side, and I thought, “What is my life right now?” Then two minutes later, it’s over. It all went really fast, but I tried to soak in like every second of it.
Were you able to stay and watch the game or the halftime show?
I stayed for a little bit. I tried to beat traffic, but it was almost impossible. It was really crowded [in the stadium], so I mostly stayed back in the trailer where they had a big TV. Just being back there was really cool. I’m usually not a sports fan, but that day I was. I loved it.
The TV audience for the Super Bowl was estimated at 112 million. Obviously, there are few stages that have that kind of reach. What do you think this kind of exposure does for the harp?
I got messages from people saying, “My daughter saw you on TV, and now she wants to play the harp now—thank you for inspiring her.” That is really all I ever dreamed of as a professional harpist—to spread the harp’s influence in popular culture. Because as I was growing up there, there weren’t a lot of harpists in mainstream media. There was Lorenna McKennit, who I loved, and then Joanna Newsom came along. Each one opened another door for the next harpist to emerge in mainstream media. I’m really excited about the next generation of harpists and what they can do.
I know a lot of harpists and musicians in general were frustrated not to see your name listed or mentioned anywhere during the performance. Did it bother you?
I was actually surprised that some online publications did give my name. I know there was an article on Pitchfork that had my whole name in there—that never happens. Usually I’m just a blurry face behind Jhené, so I was just happy that anyone even acknowledged that I was there. I’m not eager to have my name in lights or anything, but it is really nice to get some recognition.
What would your advice be to any young harpist out there who saw you play at the Super Bowl and dreams of doing something like that one day?
People have asked me, “How do I play with an artist? How do I find someone to go on tour with?” It’s really all about honing the skills that you’re going to need and being ready for whatever comes your way. You can’t say, “Oh, I want to play with this one person, and that’s the only objective.” The goal should always be the direction you want to go. After I graduated college, I knew that I wanted to play more popular music. So I worked on playing by ear, learning pop songs on the harp, playing with other musicians, playing in bands, learning how to play with a click track in my ear, going to jam sessions, and writing my own music so that once that call came, which I didn’t imagine it ever would, I was prepared to handle anything.
LIGHTNING ROUND
Rams or Bengals: Rams.
Favorite harp footwear: I need a wedge, at least. It doesn’t have to be a high heel, but something.
What harpmobile do you drive: A Prius V.
Favorite thing to do on a day off: Sleep. I also love to go see friends play shows.
Coffee or tea: Coffee.
If you didn’t play the harp for a living, what would you do: When I was little, my first dream was to be a marine biologist, because I loved dolphins. But then I wasn’t so good in science, and then I found the harp, so it was a short-lived dream.
