If I could have my way with Taylor Swift, I'd adopt her

Taylor Swift is such a refreshing new country music star. One of the most impressive things about her to me, in a professional sense, is that she not only sings the hits, she writes them also. What a great formula for success, not having to rely on other writers for your songs. It makes sense from a business standpoint as well since she makes money from the publishing royalties as well.

On top of that, if Taylor has written the songs she's performing, she's got to be "feeling it" a little more, which makes for a better show. The only time I've actually seen her perform was from the nose-bleed section of Sommet Center at the Country Music Awards, but it was impressive.

But that's not why I'd want to adopt her. The reason she'd make any dad proud is she seems, from all accounts, to be a genuinely nice person (which I'd say there is a much higher per cent of in country music as opposed to other entertainment industries anyway). Here's just a few examples:

• Taylor celebrated her 18th birthday recently. She was given a nice pink truck by her label, Big Machine Records, but she donated it to Kyle Petty's charity to use at a camp operated for children.
• While with her success Taylor could easily afford to be out on her own at 18, she's decided to stay at home with her family, partially so she can still be around to see her younger brother grow-up.
• I had a chance to observe Taylor signing autographs while taking photos for CountryHound.com at the recent Sound & Speed event in Nashville. She seemed so genuine in her interaction with fans. I think she really appreciates them as much as they do her. She was very generous with her time, hugging fans and allowing them to take photos with her.

If you ask me, that "Drew" guy didn't have a clue, making her cry on her guitar like that.

Since my motto is "I really don't know what I'm talking about", its possible someone is going to leave a comment here about how Taylor did them wrong, but I highly doubt it (well maybe Drew would).

What are my chances of adopting Taylor? Probably about as good as those of all those young boys out there who'd like to go out on a date with her.

I had a former employee who was quick to point out that usually if a child behaves badly, you can blame bad parenting, and I do believe this is the case the majority of the time. So a lot of the credit for Taylor Swift turning out to be a solidly good person probably goes to her parents.

So while I'd sure jump at the chance to adopt the daughter I never had (though I wouldn't trade my two fine sons for anything), I'm going to guess, though "I really don't know what I'm talking about", that Taylor's pretty happy with her present parental arrangement. Oh well, maybe I can start angling for favorite uncle.