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Photo: Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, becoming the youngest person ever to receive the honor. At 36, she was formally welcomed on October 26 at the hall's 56th anniversary gala in Nashville, the invitation-only evening that the class announcement had promised back in August. Brad Paisley, himself a member of the hall, presented her on stage, and Lainey Wilson performed "Love Story" for a packed room full of the writers whose company she was joining.
Swift came in under the songwriter-artist category, one of six names in the class of 2026. Shawn Camp and Lee Thomas Miller were inducted as songwriters, while Bruce Channel joined as a veteran songwriter and Lyle Lovett as a veteran songwriter-artist, with "If I Had A Boat" performed in his honor. Lovett used his moment to thank the people who brought his songs to life and the musicians he has worked with over the years, saying he owes them everything.
She was not at Belmont University when the class was named, so she sent a video message that Mark Ford, executive director of the hall's foundation, played for the crowd in Belmont. In it she called being honored by the city she loves so much a beautiful thing and said she was very grateful. The gala was her second hall of fame induction of the year, after the Songwriters Hall of Fame class in June, where she became the youngest woman ever to be inducted.
Her history with the city goes back to her childhood. Swift launched her career in Nashville as a preteen and signed her first publishing deal there at 14, and she has written many of her own hits ever since. The range runs all the way from early country singles such as "Love Story" to later pop smashes like "Anti-Hero." Fourteen Grammys later, the city where she started out has now put her name in its own songwriting hall.
In her acceptance speech she gave Nashville all of the credit. She said she would cherish the honor forever, because Nashville is the place that honed and polished the thing about her life that she is most proud of and most passionate about. She also told the room that songwriters, for all their empathy and insight into the human condition, are just people, and that in a lot of ways they raised her and guided her through her formative years.
The late Jerry Allison entered in the legacy category, where "That'll Be the Day" was played in his honor and his widow accepted on his behalf. George Strait received the Career Maker Award, which recognizes his long support of songwriters through the songs he chose to record, and he said the writers had helped make his career. Two of those writers presented it to him, along with a guitar signed by each of the nearly 50 songwriters on stage. The hall has inducted 254 songwriters over its history, and Rich Hallworth, board chair of its foundation, said there was nothing more rewarding than welcoming six extraordinary writers into it.
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