The city of Nashville held many good memories for me, both in terms of business and pleasure. Back when Chris and I ran East Cost Image, our work caught the attention of Vanity Fair magazine who chose us to photograph Carrie Underwood outside of the famous music hotspot, Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. In the process I'd struck up a friendship with a country music impresario named Mike Jensen, who introduced me to Gretchen Wilson, Miranda Lambert, and especially to Julianne Hough.
One music star I'd only met once, and who somehow remembered me, was Taylor Swift. How we met again was a weird coincidence.
"I didn't know you still did ad copy." I said to Jeff Murphy, my boss at Artists Unlimited.
"Well, it's a complicated arrangement, but yes, we do."
"Complicated or not, I think it's pretty cool."
"You're just saying that because it's ad copy for a guitar company and you're a frustrated rock star."
"Who isn't?" I said with a smile and comical shrug.
Unbeknownst to me previously, Artists Unlimited still did occasional photo work for advertising agencies. And in this case it was for Taylor Guitars. So when they started a big ad campaign promoting their guitars, who do you think was the natural choice?
Right, Taylor Swift.
And who got to take the pictures?
Like I said, complicated or not, it was a pretty cool arrangement that would take me back to Nashville.
She'd been using Taylor guitars for some time but this was the first real promotion she'd done for them, and she had the clout to choose who would take the pictures, so doing the photos in Nashville was a natural.
Looks like all I had to do was show up.
Once I'd arrived in Nashville, I went straight for the Gruhn guitar store that had recently moved to its new location, far off the main drag in Nashville, but still well known as the place for vintage instruments. Mike agreed to meet me there and we'd discuss the shoot with the company reps. My eyes were transfixed on the variety of guitars hanging on the walls, all I needed was the money.
"Hey, there's the man himself!" Mike said as he walked in and saw me eying a vintage Stratocaster "Gonna do a little shopping?"
"Oh, sure. All I need is...a LOT of money." I said as I looked at its price tag.
"Yeah, well what else is new?" he laughed.
Being in the store gave me ideas for the shoot, the Taylor reps were interested and appreciated my thoughts. I thought it would be cool to photograph her in the store with the other vintage Taylor models as well as the newest ones.
"You won't have to go far for those." the rep said "I'm sure she'll bring her own, adds a little authenticity don't you think?"
"Good thinking, Bill." the other rep said as he got out his cellphone "I'll call her now, we can get started this afternoon."
"Wow, she's in town?" I asked, trying not to sound excited.
"She does live here, you know."
"I'll line up the gear." Mike said as he took out his own "Anything you'll need, Jim?"
And with that, the wheels started turning. Mike got the store manager to close early so we could work in relative peace.
"You're lucky we're in the new location, the old one..." an older gentleman wearing a gaudy Hawaiian shirt said as he shook his head and walked away.
"You've told me that one before, George." Mike said
I watched the man and turned to Mike.
"Oh, that's George Gruhn," he said "He opened this place years ago, supposedly Clapton got that famous black Start of his here...right, George?"
George stood behind the counter and mumbled something, like he was sick of that story.
Maybe he was sick of us, too.
An hour later, as I checked my Nikon cameras, lenses, batteries, etc. I could see a black Mercedes G-Wagon SUV pull up.
"Right on time, that's my girl." Mike said as he went outside.
I couldn't help myself and tried to get a look, sure enough it was her.
Taylor and Mike breezed into the store, the last time I'd seen her was onstage at a huge music festival with Miranda Lambert and Julianne Hough. That time, she had her typical blonde curls and white sundress on. The "America's Sweetheart" look, as it were. This time though, she looked gorgeous. Her hair was straight but with just enough of a flair to set it apart and show off her eyes once she removed her stylish dark sunglasses. Her slim frame was accentuated by black slim-fit jeans and a green striped long-sleeve shirt
"Hi! You must be Jim." she said with a perky voice as she hugged me, she had a beautiful perfume on that made me close my eyes and inhale it "I remember you from the big festival. So good to see you again!"
"Yes, you, too. That was a great show you did that night."
"Great? Oh god, I screwed up the words to that song so bad!" she laughed, remembering that she had joined Miranda & Julianne in a rowdy version of the old Faces song "Stay with Me"
"All I could remember to sing was 'stay with me...staaay with me'" she said.
"I guess with a song like that the looser it sounds, the better."
"Yeah! I never thought of that!"
I explained my idea for the photos and just as Mike had expected, she'd brought her own guitars. My eyes began to glaze as I saw the cases brought in and wondered what treasure might be revealed. I was not disappointed.
Taylor casually pulled out a huge 12-string acoustic made of some exotic wood.
"What do you think of this one?" she asked me
"Man...what kind of wood is that?"
"I think it's some kind of Hawaiian wood, they made it special for me." she said as she ran her nails across the strings and a big sound came out of it "I don't play this one as much as I should. It really sounds good, I'll say that."
Another case held a lipstick red acoustic she'd been using on her last tour as well as variations on the signature model made for her. It was fairly simple with elegant flowers painted around the body.
Over the next hour I took dozens of photos of her with the guitars, she seemed to enjoy the process.
"Didn't you take that photo of Carrie out on the street somewhere?" she asked
"Oh, yes...that one came out better than I thought."
"You're telling me! You were so lucky with that shot." she laughed.
"Well, uh, luck of the shutter, I guess."
An assistant carefully approached us now.
"Taylor, we have that event tonight we need to get ready for." she said
She turned to me now.
"We're all set here, I'll send the photos over tonight." I said with a smile "Thank you so much."
"Oh, thank you! It was really nice working with you, Jim." she said as she hugged me again "I'll call you tomorrow."
With that, she breezed out of the store, her guitars soon followed.
"Good job, Jimbo." Mike said as we shook hands and I felt him hand me something.
"All in a days' work." I replied.
As he walked away, I looked in my hand and found a carefully folded hundred dollar bill, make that several carefully folded hundred dollar bills.
"All in a days' work, indeed." I thought to myself.
As I expected, the pictures turned out great and I emailed them to her manger and the reps from Taylor guitars. They were enthusiastic about them and wanted to setup a meeting in LA with our people.
So now it was just a question of staying in Nashville an extra day to play tourist on the company dime, or heading home.
To my surprise, I got a call on my cell, from an unknown number.
"Hi, Jim! It's Taylor!" said the perky voice on the other end "Are you on your way back to LA?"
"No, as a matter of fact I wasn't sure if I'd play tourist or traveler."
"Good! I looked at your photos, and they were great...but I've got an idea for some more photos, are you interested?"
"Uh, sure...I've still got my gear here. I think I could work something out."
"Great! I'll send a car for you, how 'bout that?"
"Sounds good to me."
An hour later, a Chevy Suburban picked me up and was soon headed far from the city, up into the mountains.
At a large wooden gate, the driver clicked in a security code and the gate opened, just up the road was a small log cabin on a hillside facing a lake. I got out and the cabin's front door opened, Taylor came out, wearing jeans but with a shawl wrapped around her to ward off the chill in the air.
"Hi! Come on in!" she said happily "Welcome to my getaway home."
Inside the rustic cabin she had a fireplace going and there was a real mountain cabin feel, as expected. A baby grand piano was in the corner along with 2 guitars and a laptop computer. A wooden ladder led to an upstairs loft with a large brass bed with a colorful patchwork quilt that looked like it was from another era.
"It always gets cold up here so I keep the fireplace going." she said
"It's OK, I'm from Connecticut so I'm used to cold weather." I said looking around "This is a neat place."
"Yeah, it's where I come to do my writing if things get too crazy for me. Let me show you the back."
