Taylor Swifts Contribution to Country Music

Taylor Swift and Country Music
Taylor Allison Swift was born on December 13, 1989 in Reading, Pennsylvania. She grew up on a Christmas tree farm there, until later moving to Wyomissing, Pennsylvania at age 9. Her grandmother was an opera singer and she influenced Taylor’s interest in music at an early age. Swift began singing in contests at festivals, karaoke contests and talent shows, and at 11 years old she sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a Philadelphia 76ers basketball game. That following year she learned and began dedicating time to practice playing the guitar, sometimes playing for hours on end until her fingers bled. While trying to master the art of guitar playing, a growing love for country music and the desire to write began to surface inside her. Confident in Taylor, her parents sold their Christmas tree farm and moved to a town near Nashville so she could devote time to follow her dreams to become a country singer.      
Once in Nashville she signed with Sony/ATV as a songwriter and secured an artist development deal with RCA records, but soon left RCA because she wanted to release an album with her own material and they wanted to wait until she was 18. In 2005 she met Scott Borchetta and signed with his independent label Big Machine Records. Her first single "Tim McGraw" was later released in the summer of 2006. An instant hit, the song spent 8 months on the Billboard country singles chart. She then followed that with a self-titled debut album which spawned 5 hit singles and in 2007 was certified platinum, having sold more than one million copies in the United States. She proceeded to go on tours, opening for artists such as George Straight, Rascall Flatts, Kenny Chesney, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Her second album "Fearless" was later released in November of 2008, and while it crossed over into the pop chart mainstream she never lost sight of her country roots. This six time platinum album is the most awarded album in country music history,...