Born 69 Years Ago Today in Texas, Taylor Swift’s “Secret Weapon” and the Brilliant Songwriting Mind Behind Hits by Little Big Town and Carrie Underwood

In June 2006, a 16-year-old girl named Taylor Swift made a splash on the country music scene with her debut single, “Tim McGraw”. The lovelorn ballad reached number six on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and critics gushed over the young singer-songwriter’s diaristic lyrical style and infectious country-pop hooks. And while Swift has long since proven her songwriting skills many times over, she had a secret weapon — her co-writer, Liz Rose.

Born Elisabeth Wagner in Dallas, Texas, on this day (September 6) in 1957, many number-one hits and award-winning songs have come from Rose’s pen. Her resume includes Eli Young Band’s “Crazy Girl” (2011) and Little Big Town’s “Girl Crush” (2014).

However, she is best known as Swift’s “secret weapon,” wielded to much success on early hits like “White Horse”, “Fearless”, “You Belong With Me”, and the ultimate sad-girl anthem, “All Too Well”.

Today, we’re diving into Liz Rose’s life and career as one of Nashville’s most sought-after writers in honor of her 69th birthday.

“It Was Chemistry:” How Liz Rose Helped Shape Taylor Swift’s Career

Raised in Irving, Texas, Liz Rose moved to Nashville in the mid-1990s.

At first, she made a living as a “song plugger,” pitching tracks to labels for their artists to record. She didn’t begin writing songs until she was 37 years old.

Another teen prodigy, Billy Gilman, was one of the first artists to cut her songs when he recorded “Elisabeth” in 2001.

Two years later, Rose landed her first top 20 hit with “Songs About Rain”, recorded by Gary Allan. Around that same time, she met a 14-year-old girl during a writers round in the basement of RCA Studios.

That girl was Taylor Swift, and she wanted to know if Rose wanted to write with her every Tuesday at 4 p.m. after she got out of school.

Still three years away from releasing her self-titled debut album, Swift had recently landed a development deal with RCA.

It isn’t hyperbole to say their partnership helped make Swift a star. One of their 17 collaborations, “White Horse”, won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Country Song. And in 2021, a re-recorded version of the Red standout track “All Too Well” reached number one on the Hot 100.

“It’s just something about the way I wrote connected with her,” Rose told Texas Monthly in 2018. “She was writing with other people at the time, too, and came back to me and said, ‘You know, I figured out that the best songs I write, the most that are me, as an artist, I’m writing with you. So why don’t just the two of us write for a while?’ It was chemistry.”

She’s Also a Successful Publisher

In addition to her work with the biggest pop star in the world, Liz Rose has enjoyed immense success with other artists. In 2012, she took home Song of the Year honors from the Academy of Country Music for Eli Young Band’s “Crazy Girl”.

Three years later, another Rose composition — “Girl Crush” by Little Big Town — won both Song of The Year at the Country Music Association Awards and Best Country Song at the Grammy Awards.

[RELATED: 4 Stunning Songs Taylor Swift Wrote Before the Age of 16]

For “Girl Crush”, Rose teamed up with frequent collaborators Hillary Lindsey and Lori McKenna. Dubbing themselves the “Love Junkies,” the trio have penned songs for Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Maren Morris, Miranda Lambert, and Carrie Underwood.

She also launched her own publishing company, Liz Rose Music, in 2010.

Featured image by L. Busacca/Getty Images for Songwriters Hall Of Fame

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