The buzz was just starting to swirl around country music newcomer Taylor Swift when super trio Rascal Flatts tapped her for her first tour last fall.
A few months later, her debut album still hot from pressing, she got a phone call to join George Strait's winter tour, which pulls into Phoenix Friday.
This spring, she and her bus join the convoy with Brad Paisley, and this summer, she'll head out for 10 dates on the Faith and Tim — as in Hill and McGraw — Soul II Soul 2 tour.
How will the 17-year-old top that?
"I have no idea. Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban, I guess," Swift joked during a phone interview last week.
Swift can thank her self-penned coming-of-age song "Tim McGraw" for her out-of-the-box success. The song went to No. 5 on Billboard's charts and pushed sales of her Big Machine Records debut, "Taylor Swift," to gold (500,000 sales) in three months.
Swift's quick rise is three-parts chutzpah, one part determination, and a legacy of parents believing so strongly in their little girl's talents that they packed up and moved to give her a shot.
Swift was 11 when the family uprooted from Redding, Pa., to Music City. Armed with a recording of Swift performing karaoke, they marched into every major label on Music Row.
Of course, they laughed her back to the curb.
"I think I realized I had to be different," Swift said. "There are thousands of girls on Music Row who . . . want this just as much as I do."
So the girl with wavy blond locks picked up a 12-string guitar, learned to play and began writing songs.
"If I can walk into a room and play guitar for myself and sing songs I'd written, I wouldn't have to depend on anyone creatively," she reasoned.
At 13, she snatched a publishing deal, which led to her Big Machine record deal. She was 16 when her debut was released.
Swift wrote all 11 songs on the album, songs rich in stories about teen love and longing, the lure of independence, the mystery of what lies ahead. There's a streak of sass running through the break-up song "Picture To Burn" — "So watch me strike a match / On all my wasted time / As far as I'm concerned / You're just another picture to burn" — and the memorable hook "When you think Tim McGraw / I hope you think of me" from the song that set this ball in motion.
Swift has yet to meet McGraw, but she spoke with him on the phone during a live radio show. He told her the song made him feel old but that he was proud of her.
In the weeks she's been out with Strait, she's met him once. From the schoolgirl giddiness in her voice, you could tell she was starstruck.
"He goes, 'It's really great to have you on tour. Everybody just loves you.' That was it. I was like, 'Oh my God. That was George,' " she said, then laughed.
Friday will be her second Arizona performance. She sang the National Anthem at the Phoenix NASCAR race last fall. About 180,000 folks watched from the stands and millions were watching on TV.
So where would she like to take this? Everywhere, she says with confidence. She would love to see her debut go platinum (1 million in sales), hopes to move up to second opening act and, with luck and a little more of that chutzpah, land a headlining tour in a year or two.
"If you believe this is where you belong, then other people will, too," she said.
With special guests Taylor Swift and Ronnie Milsap.
When: 7:30 p.m. Friday.
Where: US Airways Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., downtown Phoenix.
Tickets: Sold out.
Online: Hear audio samples from Taylor Swift at www.taylorswift.com.
Review: See a review of Friday's concert in Sunday's Accent.
