One of the earliest known Taylor Swift CDs sold at a recent auction for $12,505.
The disc, which features a photo of a preteen Taylor, an old phone number, an email address and a website meant for interested music executives, was created when Taylor was a sixth-grader looking to make it big.
"Given Taylor Swift's stranglehold on music, it is almost beyond comprehension to think that Ms. Swift ever had to bang on doors to get people to listen to her music," the Goldin Auctions listing reads. "We all must start somewhere, and Swift's ascent to the pantheon of music legends began when she was 11 years old."
The self-produced disc is signed by Swift herself. It contains Dolly Parton and The Chicks covers, Swift's take on a classic Olivia Newton-John ballad from Grease, as well as an original song. The track list is as follows: "Am I Ready For Love (Celina Berman-Gray)," "Can I Go With You (Greg McElrath/Taylor Swift)," "There's Your Trouble," "One Way Ticket," "Here You Come Again" and "Hopelessly Devoted to You."
"Swift, who grew up outside of Reading, PA, regularly traveled to New York City for voice lessons, learned guitar at the age of 12 from a local computer repairman/guitar teacher, and performed at coffee houses in the tony Stone Harbor, New Jersey, seaside town," The Goldin Auctions listing reads. "At the age of 11, Swift traveled to Nashville with her mother to shop her demo around, with the demo containing cover songs of Dolly Parton and [The] Chicks tunes."