Taylor Swift Makes History at 36 as Brad Paisley Hails Her 'Voice of a Generation' at Songwriters Hall of Fame

Taylor Swift has become the youngest person ever inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame at 36, with country star Brad Paisley hailing her as 'the voice of a generation' during a ceremony in the city on Monday night.

Swift, 36, was honoured at the organisation's gala in Nashville in the contemporary songwriter/artist category, nearly 22 years after she first signed a publishing deal in the city at 14. The accolade follows her induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York in June, when she became its youngest woman member.

Accepting the honour, the 14-time Grammy winner told the audience she had known 'from the time I wrote my first song that even if it couldn't be my career, it would be my passion'. She added that she felt 'so incredibly honoured to be inducted into this sacred club'.

Teenage Years on Music Row

Swift said she arrived in Nashville as a teenager and signed a publishing deal with Sony/ATV, now Sony Music Publishing, aged 14. She described the city as the place that 'honed and polished' what she was most proud of in her life, and thanked the veteran writers who she said 'in a lot of ways raised me'.

She recalled her mother collecting her from Hendersonville High School and driving her to Jody Williams Music, an independent publisher based in a house on Music Row. There, she said, she would write with Liz Rose in an upstairs room before demoing songs with producer Nathan Chapman in a studio in the back garden.

Chapman played every instrument on her early demos, she said, and she later fought for him to produce her debut album, Taylor Swift. The record was released in 2006 and, as Swift has pointed out elsewhere, is now 20 years old.

Paisley Prank and a Bluegrass 'Love Story'

Paisley, who took Swift on tour after her debut and was himself inducted last year, introduced her at the gala. He joked that she had 'gone to Brad Paisley High School' while touring with him aged 17.

Swift responded in kind. 'We've been estranged since 2007,' she said, claiming Paisley had once filled her tour bus with thousands of live crickets. 'For months I couldn't sleep. Just chirp, chirp, chirp,' she said, adding that she had briefly considered buying a pet lizard.

Lainey Wilson paid tribute with a stripped-back bluegrass version of Love Story, from Swift's 2008 album Fearless, backed by fiddle and double bass.

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Class

Lyle Lovett, Shawn Camp, Bruce Channel and Lee Thomas Miller were also inducted alongside Swift.

Camp co-wrote Garth Brooks's Two Piña Coladas and Brooks & Dunn's How Long Gone. Channel is best known for Hey! Baby, a 1960s hit later featured on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and covered by Anne Murray. Miller co-wrote Trace Adkins's You're Gonna Miss This and Jamey Johnson's In Color.

The late J.I. Allison, drummer with Buddy Holly's band The Crickets, was honoured in the Legacy category for co-writing songs including That'll Be the Day and Peggy Sue.

George Strait, a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, received the Career Maker Award. 'They made my career,' he told the room of songwriters. 'I didn't make theirs.'

Lovett said he was 'humbled just to be in the room with these amazing Hall of Fame songwriters'.