Taylor Swift Once Wrote Her First Hit About Tim McGraw. Years Later, They Shared the Stage
Taylor Swift was still a high school student when she wrote the song that would launch her country career. Years later, she stood on a Nashville stage and sang that same song for the man who inspired it: Tim McGraw.
The moment came at the CMA Music Festival on June 6, 2013, when Swift performed her debut single, “Tim McGraw,” before bringing McGraw out for a performance of his hit “Highway Don’t Care.” Keith Urban then joined them, turning the already memorable collaboration into a three-star country showcase.
The song that started it all
Swift wrote “Tim McGraw” in her high school math class, reportedly finishing the first version in just 15 minutes. The song grew out of a particularly personal moment in her life: her high school boyfriend was preparing to leave for college, and Swift was confronting the possibility that their relationship would come to an end.
She later polished the song with co-writer Liz Rose, but the central idea came from Swift herself. The title reflected her admiration for McGraw’s music, while the lyrics referred to a favorite song he had written.
“Tim McGraw” was released on June 19, 2006, becoming Swift’s first hit and establishing her as a young artist to watch in country music.
Seven years later, the story had come full circle.
At Nashville’s CMA Music Festival, Swift opened the segment with an acoustic performance of “Tim McGraw.” Then she introduced McGraw himself, giving the audience the chance to see the inspiration behind her first major hit standing beside the artist who had unknowingly helped inspire it.
The pair then moved into “Highway Don’t Care,” McGraw’s 2013 hit featuring Swift, with Urban’s guitar playing an important role in the song. The live performance brought all three artists together on the same stage.
Tim McGraw and Taylor Swift found the moment
There was an unmistakable sense of occasion as Swift and McGraw performed together. Their voices offered a natural contrast, with Swift’s brighter mezzo-soprano sitting alongside McGraw’s warmer baritone.
Their interaction onstage made the performance feel particularly personal. The two singers repeatedly looked toward each other as they performed, a fitting touch given the history behind Swift’s first hit and her connection to McGraw’s music.
But when Keith Urban stepped forward with his guitar, the performance took another turn.
Urban was already part of “Highway Don’t Care,” which features him on guitar, but his appearance at the CMA Festival gave him a chance to make the instrumental side of the performance impossible to overlook. His guitar solo became one of the night’s standout moments. Contemporary coverage noted that Urban emerged during the song to deliver the guitar solo, much to the crowd’s delight.
For fans revisiting the performance, Urban’s playing is still one of its most memorable elements. The guitar work gives “Highway Don’t Care” an extra lift, while Swift and McGraw handle the vocal centerpiece.
The collaboration also had plenty of recognition later that year. “Highway Don’t Care” won both Musical Event of the Year and Music Video of the Year at the 2013 CMA Awards, with McGraw, Swift and Urban credited for the collaboration.
A first hit that took on a new meaning
There is something particularly fitting about Swift returning to “Tim McGraw” years after writing it as a teenager.
When she wrote the song, McGraw was a country star she admired and the title represented a small piece of her teenage life. By 2013, Swift had become a major country-pop star in her own right, and she was standing beside McGraw in front of a Nashville festival crowd, singing the song that had started her journey.
The setlist from June 6, 2013, places “Tim McGraw” immediately before “Highway Don’t Care,” with McGraw and Urban joining Swift for the latter performance.
The performance was later uploaded by the fan channel Taylor Swift Evolution to YouTube, where it reached 356,000 views. Fans responded enthusiastically, with comments praising Swift’s performance and expressing surprise at just how impressive Urban’s guitar playing was.
It remains an especially memorable snapshot of Swift’s country era: the young songwriter who once wrote a song about her musical hero had grown into a headlining performer capable of sharing a stage with that same hero, while another country superstar supplied the guitar fireworks.
Another memorable moment from Swift’s country years
Swift’s country period produced plenty of other memorable live collaborations, including a performance of “Should’ve Said No” with her then-boyfriend Joe Jonas and the Jonas Brothers.
That relationship would end only a few months later, but the performance itself has remained part of the era’s history. Swift’s command of the stage, her interaction with the brothers and the way she worked the crowd showed how much she had developed as a live performer.
Still, the 2013 CMA Music Festival performance with McGraw and Urban carries a particular sense of symmetry.
Swift began with “Tim McGraw,” the song she had written as a teenager while facing the end of a high school relationship. She then brought McGraw onto the stage and joined him on “Highway Don’t Care,” with Urban stepping in on guitar.
For an artist whose first hit was named after one of her musical heroes, getting to sing it in Nashville before Tim McGraw himself was a fitting full-circle moment.