Taylor Swift Inducted Into Nashville Songwriters Hall
At 36, Swift became the youngest member of the hall, introduced by Brad Paisley and serenaded by Lainey Wilson, and spoke about her Music Row years.
Taylor Swift was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame on Monday and, at 36, became its youngest member. She joined at the ceremony, introduced by her former tourmate Brad Paisley.
Paisley recalled how people around her marvelled that "this teenager" could write so well, and how she then wrote her third album, "Speak Now", entirely by herself. Swift answered with a joke about the summers when she opened for him on an amphitheatre tour between her first and second albums. He and his band were known for pranks, she said, and he had once filled her tour bus with thousands of live crickets. "We've been estranged since 2007," she told the room, before saying the introduction had let bygones be bygones.
The hall's custom is that inductees do not perform. Another star plays one of their songs instead, and Lainey Wilson sang a stripped-back "Love Story". Swift thanked Wilson, said she had had her new single "Kinda Love It" on repeat, and told the audience to check it out.
Lessons from Music Row
Her speech took the three words of the honour in turn: Nashville, songwriters and fame. She said Nashville was the place she went to in her middle school daydreams. "There is no music community like this music community," she said. "I know. I checked all the communities."
She described fame as a byproduct of her love of music, and said her memories of early Nashville help her find "true north" when life feels bizarre. As a young writer she learned which ideas were worth fighting for and which to let go, and how to deal with a co-writer who has a hangover or wants to talk about a divorce first. She named Liz Rose, a frequent collaborator, and Nathan Chapman, who played every instrument on her demos and later produced her first album. That album turned 20 a couple of days ago, she said.
Swift wore a burgundy floral Raina Vanessa minidress. The honour comes four months after she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York in June, where she was also the youngest writer to be honoured.
The other inductees were Lyle Lovett, Bruce Channel, Shawn Camp and Lee Thomas Miller, plus the late J.I. Allison of Buddy Holly and the Crickets. George Strait received the Career Maker Award, which only one other artist has been given. Jamey Johnson performed "In Color" for Miller, Kathy Mattea sang "If I Had a Boat" for Lovett and Lee Roy Parnell played "Hey! Baby!" for Channel. The evening included a tribute to the late Bill Cody, the Opry emcee who announced the gala for years.
Source: Variety