One of Swift's earliest musical memories is listening to her maternal grandmother, Marjorie Finlay (née Moehlenkamp), sing at church. In her youth, Finlay was a television host in Puerto Rico and performed in operas in Singapore and Thailand. As a very young child, Swift enjoyed Disney movie soundtracks: "My parents noticed that, once I had run out of words, I would just make up my own."
Later, her parents exposed her to artists including James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel and Def Leppard. Swift has said she owes her confidence to her mother, who helped her prepare for class presentations as a child. She also attributes her "fascination with writing and storytelling" to her mother.
Swift enjoyed both reading and writing poetry and was particularly drawn to the works of Shel Silverstein and Dr. Seuss. She remains interested "in any writing from a child's perspective" and has cited To Kill a Mockingbird as one of her favorite books.
Swift has been influenced by many artists outside the country genre. As a pre-teen, she enjoyed bubblegum pop acts including Hanson and Britney Spears; she still has "unwavering devotion" for Spears. In her high school years, Swift listened to emo bands such as Dashboard Confessional, Fall Out Boy, The All-American Rejects and Jimmy Eat World. She was also a fan of contemporary female singer-songwriters including Ingrid Michaelson, Michelle Branch, Pink, Alanis Morissette, Ashlee Simpson, Kelly Clarkson, Fefe Dobson and Avril Lavigne.
Swift closely followed the musical supervision on the television dramas The O.C. and Grey's Anatomy, downloading "every" song featured. She was a fan of hip hop music, particularly the rhyming patterns used by artists such as Eminem: "Pride [in a lifestyle] is something that both country and hip-hop share."
Swift also drew inspiration from the catalogues of veteran artists. She describes Stevie Nicks as a "hero" who "has inspired me in so many ways." Tom Petty, she has said, "is on a pedestal for me." She is "obsessed" with Sixties acts like The Shirelles, Doris Troy and The Beach Boys. Influence also came from older female pop rock singers including Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin and Linda Ronstadt.
Swift was introduced to country music by "the great female country artists of the '90s ... Shania, Faith, the Dixie Chicks." She was drawn to both the sound and storytelling of country music. Shania Twain, both as a songwriter and performer, was her biggest musical influence. Faith Hill was Swift's childhood role model and she tried to copy "everything she said, did, wore."
Swift admired the Dixie Chicks's defiant attitude and their ability to play their own instruments. The band's "Cowboy Take Me Away" was the first song Swift learned to play on the guitar. She then began to explore the music of older country stars, including Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette and Dolly Parton. Lynn's "Fist City" is one of Swift's favorite country songs. She believes Parton is "an amazing example to every female songwriter out there."
Other mainstream country influences include Miranda Lambert, Dwight Yoakam, George Strait Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire, Alan Jackson, Martina McBride, LeAnn Rimes, Tim McGraw andBrad Paisley. Swift also admires alt-country artists such as Ryan Adams, Patty Griffin, Lori McKenna and Bon Iver.
Swift lists Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Emmylou Harris, Kris Kristofferson and Carly Simon as her career role models: "They've taken chances, but they've also been the same artist for their entire careers." McCartney, both as a Beatle and a solo artist, makes Swift feel "as if I've been let into his heart and his mind": "Any musician could only dream of a legacy like that."
She admires Springsteen because he is "so musically relevant after such a long period of time." She aspires to be like Harris as she grows older: "It's not about fame for her, it's about music." Swift says of Kristofferson: "He shines in songwriting ... He's just one of those people who has been in this business for years but you can tell it hasn't chewed him up and spat him out." She admires Simon's "songwriting and honesty": "She's known as an emotional person but a strong person."
