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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.

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