These two go way back.
If the reports are true, we’re just days away from the massive wedding between pop superstar Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
While the couple have remained tight-lipped about their plans, it’s. been reported in recent days that the two would tie the knot at Madison Square Garden on Friday, after it was revealed that permits had been filed for street closures around the venue from July 2-4 and trucks have been spotted unloading massive amounts of gear, with TMZ reporting that the couple would construct a giant castle and garden inside the New York City arena.
But according to Page Six, it’s really happening and will even feature entertainment from country music superstar Tim McGraw, who is among those who is reportedly set to perform at the massive wedding, along with Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Knicks. Taylor and Tim have shared the stage multiple times together throughout her career, and Taylor even joined him on the song “Highway Don’t Care” back in 2013 along with Keith Urban.
Of course, one of her earliest hits “Tim McGraw” was written because of her love for his music, and the song was included on her 2006 debut studio album, Taylor Swift, and Taylor wrote it with Liz Rose, getting the idea during a math class at school. She wrote it in 15 minutes, as she was inspired after thinking about how her relationship with her then-boyfriend would end when he graduated, because he was a senior.
She went to the Sony/ATV office after school where she and Rose finished it off, and it became a commercial success, peaking at #6 on the Billboard US Hot Country Songs chart, and a minor crossover hit too, peaking at #40 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It kicked off what has been an incredible career for Swift, and since she put this song out, she opened for McGraw on his Soul2Soul tour, 16 years ago, where she became close with he and wife Faith Hill.
He recalled in an interview with People her being in Faith’s dressing room often to get advice on the music business:
“We had long conversations with her in Faith’s dressing room about always being open to listening, but always know that you’re the leader, that you’re the one making decisions, that you will know what song is going to work or not and that you are the captain of your ship.
He could tell she had a ton of talent and was going to go very far:
“I remember thinking this girl has so much talent and so much moxie, and she’s so curious. We both absolutely fell in love with her instantly, as an artist and as a person — just a fellow professional that you realize totally knows what they are doing.”
In 2021, McGraw spoke with Apple Music Country for Apple Music Essentials, where he admitted he was “a little apprehensive” about the song at first because he thought maybe he was already washed up and “vintage,” if you will:
“I thought, have I gotten to that age now to where they’re singing songs about me? Does that mean I’ve jumped the shark a bit? Is everything still cool?
And then I realized that somebody had told me that she was in her seventh-grade math class when she wrote the song, so it made me feel a little bit better about that because she was so young writing it. So I didn’t feel like I was that terribly old.”
I have to admit, I’m not much of a fan of her music now, but I very much remember when this song came out and I still think it’s one of her best. And if McGraw does end up performing at Taylor and Travis’ wedding, it will certainly be a very full-circle moment.
“Tim McGraw”
