Growing into stardom

• Best-selling artist in 2008;

• Landed on Forbes ranking for earnings;

• Sold-out headlining arena concerts;

• 2009 Academy of Country Music top album honors;

— she can tell you exactly what went through her head four years ago when she was just a little girl with a guitar playing Boise, Idaho's, Buffalo Club.

"I didn't even have a single out," the 19-year-old singer-songwriter recalled during a conference call May 1 with a handful of journalists. "I remember they told me I was going to play an hour-and-15-minute set."

She did what she had done at ages 12 and 13 when she had to fill a three-hour coffeehouse shift.

"When I would run out of original material, I would start making stuff up, and that's what I did at the Buffalo Club," she said

Three years after the release of her eponymous Big Machine debut, Swift is easily the biggest star in pop music at this moment. Earlier this year, her modern-day take on Romeo and Juliet, "Love Story," was spinning like crazy on Radio Disney and was getting equal love from pop and country radio. It hasn't hurt that Swift counts among her friends Disney heavyweights Miley Cyrus ("Hannah Montana") and the Jonas Brothers (she toured with them and briefly dated Joe, the middle Jo Bro).

Now she is selling out her maiden headlining tour with the speed of Cyrus and the Jo Bros, including next Thursday's show in Glendale.

"What I love about the fact that I've been played on pop radio . . . is that I'm still a country artist and everyone knows that," she explained when asked if the Disney plug has helped propel her career into fast-forward.

Her three-year climb has been comfortably paced, says Swift.

"In a way it's been a gradual climb," she explained. "I had 2 1/2 years of beginner success, then kind of intermediate success, mild success and then when my second album came out, that's when everything in my life changed. All of a sudden . . . every single show sold out and everything was just so much bigger than it happened before. I'm really, really lucky that I got those 2 1/2 years of gradual climb before the craziness started."

You get a sense talking to Swift that she is in near complete control of her destiny. She writes all her own songs and designed every aspect of her arena tour, from the costume changes and stage lifts, to the video segments. It also was her decision to sit down for a three-song acoustic set like the one she played at Boise's Buffalo Club.

"It's just me and my guitar again. When you hear people scream, it's the same rush I got at the Buffalo Club," she said. "It's just . . . there are a lot more people screaming."

When one of the reporters on the conference call asked if anyone had criticized her for "pushing things a little too far" with her more revealing outfits in recent photo shoots, Swift's response was polite but stern.

"I've never heard any negative feedback from any photo shoot I've done because I tend to keep my clothes on. That's something that I have a rule about," she said. "They put red lipstick on me, which I think if people think that's suggestive I can't really do anything about that because I think it's fun to play around through fashion. . . . I don't think I've really pushed it very far at all."

Swift also shoots down those who are waiting for the day that her success goes to her head — inspiring all sorts of diva scenarios, from bad boyfriend decisions to the pitfalls of drug and alcohol abuse.

She would never do that to her fans, she said.

"It is a constant pressure, a constant reminder that you have to have your fans' interests in mind no matter what you're doing. . . . I don't what to have to deal with the pressure and guilt of lying to my fans," she said. "That's why I live my life the way I do. It's never been a temptation for me."

There's also no need to worry that all her newfound celebrity, riches and perks will go to her head.

"I'm surrounded by people who really could care less how many albums I've sold. My mom is never, ever going to let (stardom) affect her parenting," said Swift, whose parents uprooted the family from their native Redding, Pa., and moved to Nashville when Swift was 11 so she could pursue her dream.

"(Mom) is going to absolutely tell me the whole truth and tell me what I don't want to hear a lot of the time. And I love that and I appreciate that. Having people around you that will tell you when they don't like how you're acting is so important."

Read more country music news in Cathalena E. Burch's blog, My Country, at go.azstarnet.com/mycountry

If you go

• What: Taylor Swift in concert, with Kellie Pickler and Gloriana.

• When: 7 p.m. Thursday, May 21.

• Where: Jobing.com Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave. , Glendale.

• Tickets: Sold out.