The 28-year-old megastar joined a country songwriter friend on stage at the intimate show, exchanging stories, songs and shots of Fireball whisky.
Taylor Swift hasn't forgotten her roots.
One of the biggest musical stars in the world dropped in Saturday night at Nashville's legendary Bluebird Cafe, shocking an intimate crowd of 40 as she joined country songwriter Craig Wiseman on stage for a surprise acoustic performance. The Bluebird is a Nashville institution, offering up regular performances from working musicians and songwriters responsible for many of country's -- and pop music's -- greatest hits.
And sometimes the stars themselves show up.
On Saturday, Wiseman coyly invited Swift to the stage, who received a standing ovation from the small audience, The Tennessean reports. She then went on to swap stories of her younger songwriting days in Nashville as a teen, play songs like her mega-hit "Shake It Off" (acoustic, of course) and even traded shots -- as in Fireball whisky shots. Swift also performed "Better Man," a song she wrote for Little Big Town that earned her a Grammy nomination and the band a #1 country hit.
"When I would play writers nights ... I didn't have the experience of a writer writing something and then it going out into the world and you hearing it from someone else's perspective until recently," Swift said, according to The Tennessean, referring to "Better Man." "Little Big Town gave me the opportunity to feel that way ... to be at the Bluebird and play a song you've maybe heard on the radio. I will always be forever grateful to them for that."
Her final performance was of a song that Wiseman sheepishly admitted he didn't quite "get" when Swift first began writing it as a 17-year-old just starting out.
"This is the song I almost wrote with Craig Wiseman," Swift told the crowd. "It's called 'Love Story.'"
The song went on to go platinum -- eight times over.
The newspaper reports that Swift's performance was filmed for a documentary on the 35th anniversary of the legendary Bluebird Cafe. Swift is set to go on her worldwide "Reputation" tour.
For more on Swift's latest music, watch the video below.
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