Reba McEntire will sing the national anthem at Super Bowl LVIII this weekend, but she is far from the only country artist to perform the iconic song. Keep reading to see which other artists were tasked with singing one of music’s most notoriously difficult songs for the live sporting event.
1. Charley Pride (Super Bowl VIII, 1974)
The Super Bowl was still relatively new when Charley Pride was invited to sing the national anthem. Pride was not only the first country music artist to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, but he was the first solo artist to perform the duties, with either bands, choirs or collaborators performing the song until then.
2. Garth Brooks (Super Bowl XXVII, 1993)
After Pride, it would be almost 20 years before another country artist took the stage, and then it almost didn’t happen. Garth Brooks was invited to sing the national anthem in 1993, but balked at the rules imposed on him.
In the book, The Making of the Super Bowl: The Inside Story of the World’s Greatest Sporting Event (per Taste of Country), author Don Weiss says that Brooks was adamant that the NFL play his video for his song, “We Shall Be Free,” a response to the LA riots in 192. He also didn’t want to pre-record his performance, and walked out with 45 minutes until the game was scheduled to begin.
Jon Bon Jovi, who was in the audience as a fan, was on standby while producers tried to strike a deal with Brooks. Not surprisingly, Brooks won, his video was played, and he sang the national anthem, although the standoff reportedly had the NFL require all performers to pre-record their performance in the years since then.
Watch his performance here.
3. Faith Hill (Super Bowl XXXIV, 2000)
When Faith Hill sang the national anthem, her career was at an all-time high, with “Breathe” dominating both the country and the pop charts, and the singer in more demand than ever. Still, her rampant success did little to calm her nerves the day of her performance.
“The most extraordinary amount of pressure, ever,” Hill said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, recalling her performance. “There are a couple of things in my career that I would top that. I never thought it could. But singing the national anthem for the Super Bowl was terrifying. However, when I sang it, the Tennessee Titans happened to make it to the Super Bowl the same year, and I had accepted the honor. I was asked, and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, yes.’ And then I was like, ‘What did I just do?’
“It’s terrifying … I spent a lot of time in the restroom — seriously, I did — rehearsing with a boom box, literally a boom box in the public restroom, before I walked out,” she added. “I walked from the public rest room out to the field, and sang the national anthem.”
Watch her performance here.
4. The Chicks (Super Bowl XXXVII, 2003)
Three years after Hill’s performance, The Chicks (known then as the Dixie Chicks) performed the national anthem in perfect three-part harmony, unaware of how much their lives and career were about to change. A little more than a month later, lead singer Natalie Maines publicly criticized then-President George W. Bush while overseas, creating a firestorm of controversy that resulted in the threesome being effectively removed from country music.
Watch their performance here.
5. Carrie Underwood (Super Bowl XLIV, 2010)
It should come as no surprise that Carrie Underwood nailed her performance at the Super Bowl, five years after she won American Idol. Although Underwood was by then a seasoned performer, especially on live TV, she admitted singing at the Super Bowl made her very, very nervous.
“My biggest fear is the words,” Underwood told USA Today. “Of course you know the words. But if you’re going to mess up, that’d be the time, right?”
Watch her performance here.
6. Luke Bryan (Super Bowl LI, 2017)
Luke Bryan was unaware of how much went into performing at the Super Bowl until he was invited to perform.
“When I got the call, you’re like, ‘Do you really want to put yourself through this mental torture?’ ” Bryan said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “You either get the anthem right, or you don’t, first of all. And then you’re at the Super Bowl doing it. So I signed on to do it … I get to the box, after I performed the anthem, and i’m like, ‘Somebody get me a vodka drink right now so I can get my life back on track.'”
Watch his performance here.
7. Eric Church with Jazmine Sullivan (Super Bowl LV, 2021)
Eric Church teamed up with R&B artist Jazmine Sullivan for a bluesy rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a collaboration. Although the two singers did not meet until performing for the Super Bowl, Church quickly became a fan of Sullivan.
“Let me tell you something. She may be the best singer,” Church gushed on Apple Music Country’s Today’s Country Radio with Kelleigh Bannen.I was floored. And the best thing about this, no matter what happens, because that’s a nervy thing that we got to do, but what a fan. I’m a fan. I’ve went in and listened to everything she did. And I had heard her name, but full disclosure, I had not listened.”
Watch their performance here.
8. Mickey Guyton (Super Bowl LVI, 2022)
Mickey Guyton, by her own admission, was pleasantly stunned when she was asked to perform the duties in 2022.
“When I got the call asking if I would sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, that was the last thing that I ever thought I would ever hear in my lifetime,” Guyton told her record label. “And here I am, getting to sing the National Anthem and getting to be on a list of great singers who have sung it.”
Watch her performance here.
9. Chris Stapleton (Super Bowl LVII, 2023)
Chris Stapleton‘s version of the national anthem is one that will likely be talked about for years to come. The Kentucky native put his own spin on the patriotic tune, giving little hint that he was full of nerves about his performance.
“It’s the Super Bowl,” Stapleton said on The Bobby Bones Show. “And it’s the anthem. That’s a hard song, and it’s one that if you mess it up, you are immortalized messing it up forever. And if you do well, you did good there too. But the main goal with the anthem is, don’t mess up the words, and don’t mess up the melody.”
Watch his performance here.
