in detail

Gillian Grassie (say “Jillian”) is an award-winning harpist/singer-songwriter whose signature blend of jazz-inflected indie folk/pop showcases her “knack for turning seemingly insignificant events into songs worthy of everyone’s attention,” (Origivation Magazine). Though she calls Philadelphia home, extensive touring has seen her performing across North America, South America, Europe, & Asia over the past two years.

Frequently weaving stories of her travel (mis)adventures into sets more evocative of Regina Spektor than Joanna Newsom, Grassie’s charming, comfortable, & engaging stage presence has won her a growing audience of devoted listeners across the United States & as far abroad as France, Germany, India, China, Canada, Russia, Colombia, Peru, & Ecuador. Grammy-winner Marc Cohn has said of her live performance: “It’s rare to hear a young singer with such control and understated soulfulness, and even more rare to hear a harp provide such a deep percussive groove. I was immediately captivated by her sound.” Her innovative use of the harp, expressive vocals, & sophisticated but accessible songwriting prowess have earned her grants from the Thomas J. Watson Foundation & the U.S. State Department, a slew of awards, & the fervent support of her fans, who collectively contributed over $14,000 in a recent kickstarter fundraising campaign for Grassie’s forthcoming new album: The Hinterhaus.

Grassie graduated cum laude from Bryn Mawr College in 2009 with a degree in Comparative Literature & her music is often inspired by literary works, with references to Philip Larkin, Robert Frost, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Faulkner, & Francis James Child woven throughout. In her youth, she studied opera and sang with choirs in such prestigious venues as Heinz Hall, Symphony Hall, and The National Cathedral. Her interpretations of traditional Scottish harp repertoire earned first place prizes in five competitions and an invitation to perform at the Edinburgh International Harp Festival, where she debuted at the tender age of fourteen.Since then, she has independently released two critically acclaimed recordings: in 2005 the EP To an Unwitting Muse, and 2007’s Serpentine, hailed by Music for America as “an album that belongs on every critic’s top-ten list not only for the year, but for the decade.” Both sold out of their original pressings. Her song “Silken String” finished second in the 2008 New York Songwriters Circle Competition and has since been picked up by triple-A radio stations nationally. “The Train,” also from Serpentine, was featured on the soundtrack of indie film “Lebanon, PA,” which was selected for release at the SXSW film festival & reviewed in the NY Times.

Grassie has been profiled in The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Times of India, and on NBC 10, but perhaps more telling are the glowing fan reviews on iTunes, Pandora, and CDBaby, whose praise is often as articulate and sensitive as the music it describes. One listener wrote: “Serpentine is really impressive, in the traditional sense of the term; it’s left an imprint on me. Her music is completely unique; you take her music on her terms; she isn’t derivative at all. Gillian knows what she wants to say and knows exactly how to say it. At an age (and in an age) when younger performers are either finding their style or – mostly – copying others’, Gillian Grassie has already clearly established her sound and her voice.” Another fan described her as “an awesome combination of Pippi Longstocking, folk musician, intellectual salon hostess, drinking buddy, and the Mata Hari. Trust me, you never saw anything like this.”

Grassie was a longtime harp student of Janet Witman and vocal student of Dr. Jeffrey Anderson. Over the course of her career she has taken workshops, private lessons, and masterclasses with artists such as Catriona McKay, Park Stickney, Deborah Henson-Conant, Dr. Carrol McLaughlin, Isobel Mieras, Corrina Hewat, Grainne Hambly, Rüdiger Oppermann, Bill Taylor, and Elizabeth Blakslee, and is an alumna of the Brandywine Harp Orchestra. Her festival appearances include the XPoNential Music Festival, Appel Farm Arts & Music, Musikfest, Edinburgh International Harp Festival, Blindspot Festival, & the Pushkin FORCE Festival in Russia. Additionally, she is a member of the ESL Folk Project, a U.S. State Department funded cultural & educational initiative that brought a program featuring old-time American folk music to Russia during the summer of 2010 & Colombia, Peru, & Ecuador in 2011.