13 / 16
made her first visit to the country
capital with her parents to leave
demos at record companies on
Music Row. The trip ended in
rejection and disappointment, but
she learned a valuable lesson;
“That’s when I realized that I
needed to be more. I needed to
know how to do something more
than just sing a song.”
Taylor began performing “The
Star Spangled Banner” at sporting
events and was once high-fived
by rapper Jay-Z at a Philadelphia
76ers NBA game. A year after
the Nashville visit, she started
to play guitar when family friend
Ronnie Kramer came to fix the
computer and taught her three
chords. Taylor being Taylor,
she was soon writing songs,
the first being “Lucky You.”
In April 2004, and with the
wholehearted backing of her
parents, she began working
with Dan Dymtrow, a talent
representative based in New
York who had numbered Britney
Spears among his clients.
Dymtrow helped her place a song
she’d written, “The Outside,” on a
Maybelline Cosmetics compilation
CD called “Chicks With Attitude,”
an annual event to help young
female artists get started.
Dymtrow also brokered meetings
with major record companies.
After she performed at a
record-company showcase, RCA
offered the 13-year-old an artist
development deal. According
to Taylor, the company agreed
to, “Sponsor and pay for your
demos that you do over this next
year, and we’re going to see how
you grow as an artist. And then
in a year, we’re going to decide
whether we want you or whether
we want to develop you for more
time, or whether we want to
drop you.”
The deal involved many trips
to Nashville, and this constant
to-ing and fro-ing provoked a
major family decision. When
Taylor was 14, her father
transferred to the Merrill Lynch
office in the city and moved
the family to Hendersonville,
a prosperous suburb. This,
as Taylor acknowledged,
“was an incredible sacrifice
for my parents to make and
I’ve never forgotten it.” For
her freshman and sophomore
years, Taylor attended
ABOVE:
Shania Twain
was one of Taylor’s
earliest influences.
11