In September, Ryan Adams’s acoustic 1989 cover album taught many listeners (and music critics) that Taylor Swift’s electronic-tinged tracks sound great as intimate folk songs. But true Swift fans probably didn’t need a man to tell them that—after all, Swift is an accomplished guitarist who cut her teeth in the music industry as a country artist. Swift returned to her acoustic roots in a concert at the Grammy Museum on Sept. 30, and this week the museum released a video of Swift playing a pared-down version of “Out of the Woods” from last year’s 1989.
“I’m going to play you a song that I wrote about a relationship that I was in that the number one feeling I felt in the whole relationship was anxiety,” Swift said by way of introduction. Swift is a solid if not virtuosic pianist, and in this case the simplicity of her piano chords is a good thing, leaving plenty of room for emotional vocal modulations. Maybe it’s time for Swift to record an acoustic 1989 cover album of her own?
