0843930000791. Pre-Owned: Good condition. CD. All of 16 when she recorded this debut album country-pop singer Taylor Swift s considerably strong voice straddles that precarious edge that both suggests experience far beyond her years and simultaneously leaves no doubt that she s still got a lot of life to live. It s a fresh still girlish voice full of hope and naïveté but it s also a confident and mature one. That Swift is a talent to be reckoned with is never in doubt: her delivery on tracks like the uptempo The Outside the spare acoustic ballad Mary s Song (Oh My My My) and especially the leadoff track Tim McGraw which was the first single from the album is that of a seasoned pro despite Swift s newcomer status. Tim McGraw may also be the album s highlight -- not a teenager s tribute to the country superstar it instead uses McGraw as a marker in a lover s time line: When you think Tim McGraw/I hope you think my favorite song. It s a device that s been used countless times in as many ways that of associating a failed affair with items places and people yet it works as a hook here and manages to come off as an original idea. Swift wrote or co-wrote every song on the record a fairly remarkable feat considering the sophisticated manner in which she treats matters near and dear to the heart of one her age ( Now that I m sitting here thinking it through/I ve never been anywhere cold as you ). Producer/mentor Nathan Chapman has applied to some of Swift s songs a gloss that not all of them really require and in some cases would do better to shed. But Swift has no trouble overcoming any blandness taking place around her. She s come up with a commendable starter album that s as accomplished as any by a ten-year veteran who s seen a lot more road and felt a lot more emotion. Swift s young age may be a major point of interest in bringing listeners in but by the end of the record she s succeeded in keeping them. [Big Machine reissued the album with bonus tracks in 2008.] ~ Jeff Tamarkin Rovi