Subject: Taylor Swift

• The Music Industry's New Normal

  July 14, 2008

• Taylor Swift & Def Leppard: Um, OK

  November 10, 2008

• Hitsville: The Year in Music, by the Numbers

  You don't need a half-wit music critic to tell you it's been a remarkable year for America, one historians will be discussing and researching for centuries to come. War, financial collapse, politics, technology: All have been dinner-table topics for many Americans. Racial barriers in 2008 were demolished by a Midwestern black man, and gender barriers were hurdled by an Arkansan and an Alaskan.Democracy has a few awesome new dance moves rolling into the Obama presidency, and it'll be a feast for

  December 30, 2008

• A Swift Kick in the Bruckheimers: Taylor Swift to Star in Upcoming Episode of CSI

  According to a recent press release, sweet-as-pie mini-starlet Taylor Swift will be making a guest appearance in an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation set to air in late February or early March. Replace the words "Vegas motel" with "Christmas tree farm" and "tragic" with "multi-platinum" and it's pretty easy to see why CSI producers went with Swift: Taylor will play Haley Jones, a teenaged girl whose family runs a seedy Vegas motel. Over the course of a year, Haley goes through a serie

  January 14, 2009

• The Ninth Annual Nashville Scene Country Music Critics Poll: The Charts vs. the Critics

  January 15, 2009

• The Ninth Annual Nashville Scene Country Music Critics Poll: Voters' Comments

  January 15, 2009

• The Ninth Annual Nashville Scene Country Music Critics Poll: The Results

  January 15, 2009

• The Music City Star

  February 26, 2009

• Kings of Leon to Tour With The Walkmen

  Well, check out The Walkmen. Just a few months ago the NY stalwarts were playing The Basement with The Privates as their backing band. Now, they're hitting the road and playing above ground at large, large places like the Constant Convocation Center (?) with none other than Nashville's own Kings of Leon. As you may have heard, KOL, in addition to playing Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party (where they made quite an impression on Taylor Swift--more on that later) picked up the all-important Grammy fo

  February 10, 2009

• The Knop's Pop Chops: An Interview With Steve Knopper

  Remember when we told you about author/record industry expert/Rolling Stone contributor Steve Knopper's appearance on NPR's Fresh Air? Shortly thereafter I shot Knopper an email, and he was kind enough to send along some musings about the plight of the record industry, especially as it pertains to Music City. Here's a snippet: It seems that the RIAA/major labels have smelled the coffee and realized that suing customers and pushing draconian digital rights management merely serve to annoy the pu

  February 13, 2009

• Weekend Round-Up: He's Back Style! Part 1

  Take a good look at the cowboy, 'cause this is the last week you'll be seeing him. It's Friday the 13th once again, and the cowboy is back to bring us all tidings of good weekending. Yes, this is the last week the cowboy will make an appearance, so if you have any suggestions for a future Round-Up image/video, let me know in the comments. Who knows? Maybe you can finally put that Photoshopped image of you and Taylor Swift on a Jet Ski to use. Now, down to business: D. Striker's RR Bash/Hands D

  March 13, 2009

• Taylor Swift at the Opry

  Taylor-Made

  April 9, 2009

• Comments:

  January 24, 2008

• The Eighth Annual Country Music Critic's Poll

  January 24, 2008

• Can’t Tell me Nothin’

  16-year-old ‘Tim McGraw’ singer Taylor Swift has something to say—even if it’s in code

  November 2, 2006

• Bonnaroo 2009 Countdown

  Six days and counting to Bonnaroo 2009, kids. By now, you've probably mapped out your schedule, or at least set some priorities, like "No matter, what, I'm not going to miss _______, even if it means missing _______." Or, your priorities might look more like, "I'm gonna candy-flip Friday and eat mushrooms Saturday!" Right now my biggest hassle is trying to figure out if I'm going to stay in town to see St. Vincent at Mercy Lounge or see her while my shoulders feel like they're on fire. (I supp

  June 5, 2009

• Finding Her Voice: Kitty Wells Panel at the Country Music Hall of Fame

  Sister Act

  April 23, 2009

• Happy Monday

  Watching this video of the Dave Matthews Band making their entrance on Saturday, I have to wonder at what point we will be completely unable to live in the moment without recording it for later or broadcasting it to others who aren't there. Memories are more precious than shitty cell phone videos, no? No? What would you do if you bought one of Sonic Youth's stolen guitars? (Via MBV.) Taylor Swift tops the Twitter charts, or whatever. No. 2 is, uh, Pink. LOL, Internet. (Via Idolator.)

  April 27, 2009

• Taylor Swift in L.A., The Dead Weather on the Cover of SPIN: Newsy Bits

  * The other night I had this funny dream, where I was walking outside the Green Hills mall and ran into Taylor Swift. In this dream, we were pals. Not call-each-other-late-at-night-and-gossip pals or anything. She was like, "Hey, nice to see you!" And I was all, "Yo, what's shakin', Tay?" And we kind of small talked for a bit. She was wearing big clunky glasses--the kind they put on "hot" girls in movies to make them look "nerdy" so then we are "surprised" when they take them off and become conv

  May 26, 2009

• CMA Music Festival

  June 11, 2009

• Taylor Swift and T-Pain: Thug Story

  Our girl Taylor Swift won best video of the year at the CMT Awards last night, but it wasn't for "Thug Story" (above). T-Swizzle and T-Pizzle hooked up as expected for this video interlude, wherein T-Swizzle is so gangster she bakes cookies and knits. Stereotypes, stereotypes. Winners list and unrepentant pendant after the jump.

  June 17, 2009

• Nashville Rocks, 1989-2009 (Part 1)

  This week marks the totally chrome 20th anniversary of the Scene as we know it. (Turns out we're six months older than Taylor Swift.) So to mark the occasion we take a look back at 20 years of music in Music City, from Lucy's to the boys of Leon. That includes the "Nashville curse" (both its origins and vanquishing) the best pyro ever (R.I.P. Dancin' in the District), Jack White and the "Nashville effect" and many, many (i.e. 17) more. There's even totally an analog blog comment form for you t

  June 25, 2009

• Then and Now

  June 25, 2009

• MTV Video Music Awards: Taylor Swift, Kings of Leon, Paramore Nominated

  ...and one gigantic step backward for mankind.​Well, MTV announced the VMA nominees yesterday, and you can take the fact that Lady Gaga got nominated nine (9) times as a sign that these awards are nothing more than a trashy parade of trashy bullshit. Or you could not think that. (But seriously: Asher Roth? Seriously.) Anyhoo, if host Russell Brand isn't enough to make you tune in, then maybe root-root-rooting for the home team will. Nashville represents with three artists* in the mix for

  August 5, 2009

• Keith Urban Gets KISS'd by Taylor Swift

  You gotta admit: as pranks go, this one's pretty good. The other night in Kansas City, Taylor Swift and her band stormed the stage during Keith Urban's "Kiss a Girl," dressed, well, as KISS. (Via The Boot.)

  August 18, 2009

• Kiss to Play Sommet Center Oct. 28

  Fuck yeah! As you may recall, last February I got to sit in on a lecture by Kiss bassist, P.T. Barnum of rock and God's gift to mankind, Gene Simmons. When asked to describe the band's current stage show, Simmons replied, "Everything levitates." On Oct. 28, you'll get to see that levitation for yourselves as Kiss takes the stage at Sommet Center. That's right, the Scene has it from a source--who is iron-clad in their reliability--that the greatest band in the history of rock marketing, the 35

  August 20, 2009

• The Phoenix's David Thorpe Takes on Billboard's Hot 100, Taylor Swift and KoL

  ​We've linked before to The Boston Phoenix's David Thorpe, scholar of all things popular music and architect of snarkiness-trumps-all formula for rock criticism. Though many folks think he's sassy simply for the sake of being sassy, it's important to remember that there's a tinge of laughabilty to even the most legitimate of artists, and this guy's better at pointing out said tinges than just about anyone else...even when the artists aren't especially legitimate. Thorpe has finally taken

  August 28, 2009

• The Scene Aesthetic Cover Taylor Swift [Tonight at Rcktwn]

  If a band called The Scene Aesthetic comes to town, I guess I'm kinda obliged to at least mention them, right? They play tonight at Rcktwn with The Color Fred and The Ready Set. Quick aside: The other day, I was thinking about the Shangri-Las' "Out in the Streets" (co-written by the late, great Ellie Greenwich), a particularly wonderful song which is sung from a female perspective, about a boy who's a bit wild. Another of my favorite bands, Versus, covered that song on their themed EP Shangr

  September 2, 2009

• Taylor Swift at Sommet Center

  September 10, 2009

• Weekend Round-Up: Panda Gold Style Part 2

  ​Saturday: DJ Wick-It CD Release Party feat. DJ Kidsmeal, The Billy Goats & Cas One at The End. Check out Maloney's feature on Wick-It. Helado Negro & more at Willy T's house. Standard house-show-address drill: Ask around. Twistin' the Night Away at Welcome to 1979. The local studio has teamed up with Twist Art Gallery to present a crazy evening of interactive art, photography, painting, a play-what-you-feel record collection and all sorts of intriguing business. Taylor Swift w/Kellie

  September 12, 2009

• Taylor Swift at the Sommet Center, 9/12/09

  Photos by Steve Cross. Check out the slideshows for more: Taylor Swift; Kellie Pickler. We won't say which member of which local rock band we saw in the will call line at the Sommet Center Saturday night as we waited for our Taylor Swift tickets, but we will say there was some awkward neck-scratching and looking at the floor that happened. It feels a little weird being one of the olds at a concert like this--there were little girls standing on chairs clutching their safety blankies, for cryin

  September 14, 2009

• Taylor Swift, Metallica, Rabbit Press party and more

  September 17, 2009

• Revolution’s in the air at Municipal Auditorium as the Tennessee Tea Party convenes

  September 24, 2009

• Next Big Nashville Day 1: Good News: The Vibes Are Awesome

  If you were among those that got a jump start last night on this week's festivities, you may or may not have noticed your fellow attendees were vibrating at a very high frequency in anticipation of getting knee-deep in Nashville's biggest annual pep rally yet. Folks were indeed in good spirits. Backs were slapped, egos were stroked and I recall reciprocating more than a few high-fives. I don't know much about astrology and such, but I'm pretty sure some planets and stars and nebula have lined up

  October 8, 2009

• Paramore at The Ryman, 11/1/09

  Shitty cell phone pic by The Spin!​This is a little unfair, but for a hot minute there, it looked like the most exciting part of last night's Paramore show at The Ryman was going to be the moment Taylor Swift walked--no, strode--across the front row of the balcony, sending a giddy wave through the crowd and fans scrambling into the aisles, elbowing each other and hoisting their cell phones and cameras. Even the most elementary lip-reading skills could have told you that "Ohmygod Taylor Swi

  November 2, 2009

• Pretty Lights, KISS, Paramore and more

  November 5, 2009

• Did Anyone Watch the 2009 CMA Awards Last Night?

  Like Twee's Nutz, only bigger, and more American.​I stopped watching the second they put Daughtry onstage. I guess the continued success of Taylor Swift has probably alienated some of the core male pop-country audience, what with her wispy ballads and her friend Abigail and her (a little too virginal) femaleness, and the industry is thinking they need to get some shave-y argh-rock in the mainstream mix before The Real America's collective TruckNutz fall off. But seriously. Ew. Also, Dear

  November 12, 2009

• Morning Update: No Surrender

  ​A consultant's report projecting demand and revenue for a proposed new convention center inspires the city finance director to call it a "feasible project." ... A new analysis by a Washington tax policy think tank finds that Tennessee's tax system is is the fourth most regressive among the states. Only South Dakota, Florida, and Washington state have systems of taxation that are more punitive toward low-income residents. ... TennCare enrollees could see benefit cuts. ... Gibson Guitar's CEO

  November 19, 2009

• Morning Roundup: Rich Riebeling, Velvet Thunder, Terry Carr-Hall, Taylor Swift and More

  ​ In Joey Garrison's must-read profile of Metro finance director Rich Riebeling, we found amusing this Riebeling quote about Mayor Karl Dean's stewardship of Metro: "People would be surprised how much input he has." Really? People would be surprised how much input the mayor has in running the city? ...Elringo DeAngelino, the homeless, wheelchair-bound street performer known to scores of Second Avenue visitors as Velvet Thunder, died Nov. 16 in a local hospital. Anyone wishing to make contribut

  November 23, 2009

• Grammy Nominations for Taylor Swift, Paramore, Kings of Leon

  ​Did you watch the Grammy nomination show? Me neither. After the tooth-pulling scene in Rudolph, I knew it was going to be way too much for my delicate constitution to hear the Black Eyed Peas get nominated for anything other than banishment to a spice mine on Charon. Nashville's usual power players of '09 did snap up some attention, though. Paramore got nominated for "Decode," off the soundtrack for that fangst-ridden movie about the girl in an abusive relationship with a glittery depress

  December 3, 2009

• Kid Wants Taylor Swift for Christmas Because He Wrote a Song

  I realize that in the world of fame-whoring it up the Internets, one fast-track maneuver involves writing a song about someone famous and fooling Google into getting people to click on your shit. I've already been emailed relentlessly by other hapless little dudes who were all, "I wrote a song about Taylor Swift that has X,XXX views and so you should write a story about me." Huh. And then there's this little chap who wants Santa to bring him Taylor Swift for Christmas. Aw. I realize this is no

  December 8, 2009

• The Year in Music: Ear to the Ground

  December 10, 2009

• Country Music Critics' Poll - Voter Comments

  January 7, 2010

• Country Music Critics' Poll - The Results

  January 7, 2010

• The Mount Rushmore of country music's future—Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift and Jamey Johnson—tops the 2009 Country Music Critics' Poll

  January 7, 2010

• Brad Paisley and Miranda Lambert Top the 10th Annual Nashville Scene Country Music Critics Poll

  ​Sure, Taylor Swift rode a helicopter to the People's Choice Awards last night (she won Favorite Female Artist), but how did she fare in the Scene's 10th annual Country Music Critics Poll? Not too shabbily, as a matter of fact. From the extremely official press release: The 77 writers from all over North America who voted in the 10th annual Country Music Critics Poll named Brad Paisley Artist of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year and cited his latest release, American Saturday Night,

  January 7, 2010

• Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, The Dead Weather and More Chart in Pazz and Jop 2009

  Yesterday, the Village Voice's yearly Pazz and Jop poll results went live. (Remember when D.P.R. was filling out his ballot?) To the shock and amazement of this one guy who lives in Jersey, Animal Collective's Merriweather Post Pavilion topped the albums chart. If you've been near an Internet in the past year, most of the Top 10 probably won't surprise you much: Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, The xx, Dirty Projectors and so forth. Meanwhile, to the mild shock and bemusement of this critic, Jay-Z's "Empi

  January 20, 2010

• Taylor Swift Parody, Mercy Lounge Secrecy, Sunset Bros. Immediacy [Newsy Bits]

  ​* "Taylor Swift gets a lot of credit for writing her own songs, which is great. For her." Amelie Gillette doesn't like Taylor Swift, and that is kind of like listening to someone rail against cereal. A lot like that, actually. But possibly the best part of this post is in the comments where people start making up fake Taylor Swift song titles. ("Princess and the Sparkly Abstinence Werewolf," "Wistful Pancakes," "Fuck Joe Jonas," etc.) [The A.V. Club] * Remember we told you there'd be SUP

  January 20, 2010

• Spotted: John Mayer and Taylor Swift at 'Hot Spot' Cabana

  ​If you're hot on the beast's trail that is Twitter, you might already know about the sizzling culinary celeb spotting yesterday that has all the entertainment rags, uh, atwitter: John Mayer and Taylor Swift were spotted right here in Nashville collaborating over dinner. Do any of you care? Fuck no. So. I answer all your questions after the jump, so you don't have to read this article!

  January 25, 2010

• Are Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood Crappy Singers?

  Is there any talent in this pic?​For starts, I know the Super Bowl was, in Internet years, several ice ages ago, and the Grammys pretty much before I was even born, but several lingering comments this week have started a rattling in my coffee-buggin' brain this morn, so I thought I'd type. The concerns of which I speak regard Nashville's youngest, brightest, comeliest songbirds, Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood, and their performances at the aforementioned televised events. Critics, blog

  February 11, 2010