Liz Rose is a name that has been synonymous with success in the country music industry for many years, and she's an avid champion of younger writers.

Rose is, of course, one of the songwriters behind many of Taylor Swift’s early hits, including "Tim McGraw," "Teardrops on My Guitar," "White Horse" and "You Belong With Me." She and Swift also co-penned "All Too Well," a song that experienced a massive resurgence in 2021 when Swift released Red (Taylor’s Version) and included the original, ten-minute version of the song on the project. Swift also released a film to go along with the tune, and the track became a worldwide hit.

Rose chatted with Taste of Country at the 26th Annual Key West Songwriters Festival in early May, sharing that it was "fun" to watch Swift have another moment with the song they co-wrote.

"I’ve never had a global No. 1 song before, so obviously that was cool," she shared prior to her Liz Rose & Friends show at Key West’s Blue Heaven restaurant. "It was her moment. It was my moment because we co-wrote the song, but that was her moment to put the longer version on there. She got to release that. That was pretty amazing. So yeah, it was fun."

"I’m good, I’ve had a lot of fun, and I love to write and I love getting cuts, but I really love watching them get cuts and have success."

Other projects Rose has been involved in recently include co-writing a song called "Hummingbird" on Maren Morris’ new album, Humble Quest. Rose co-wrote the tune with Morris and fellow "Love Junkies" songwriters Lori McKenna and Hillary Lindsay. They wrote the song the day Morris found out she was pregnant with her son, Hayes, and the women simply put the beautiful news of the day into words.

"She showed up to write on one of the most important days of her life. She’s amazing," says Rose. "That little song fell out, and what was so cool about it is we just wrote this little song about what she was feeling about that moment of finding that out. You don’t think about that. You think, 'We just wrote a really special song that’s going to mean a lot to Maren and to Ryan [Hurd] and to the baby.'"

While Rose keeps pressing on in her own songwriting career, it’s clear when speaking to her that one of her biggest passions lies in passing her expertise on to the next generation of songwriters. Her independent publishing company, Liz Rose Music, boasts a cast of both longtime and up-and-coming writers, and one of her favorite things, Rose says, is seeing the songwriters signed to her publishing company flourish.

"I had favorite moments today when I saw Cassidy Davis just kill it at the Key West Theater when, four years ago, she couldn’t play a festival, but she went around and asked bars and played wherever she could," says Rose. "Then she’s played at the Key West Theater and she’s just killing it. Emmy Russell just blew us away at the Southernmost, and it’s really watching my writers, honestly. Cameron Bedell and Joe Fox and Seth Ennis — it’s just watching them all find their place and just have so much fun here."

"That’s what does it for me," she adds. "I’m good, I’ve had a lot of fun, and I love to write and I love getting cuts, but I really love watching them get cuts and have success."

Rose showed how much she loves her writers during her Liz Rose and Friends show hosted by the Bluebird Café at Blue Heaven in Key West. Rose and Phil Barton sang a few tunes themselves, and then Rose invited her friends — Daniels, Ennis, Bedell and more — to sing their own songs. The show ended in a group sing along of “You Belong With Me.”

"They’re all just amazing, and I’m so thankful that they trust me and our company to represent them," she says. "I’m really fortunate."

See the Most Played Country Song from the Year You Were Born

Who had the most played country song during the year you were born? This list is a fascinating time capsule of prevalent trends from every decade in American history. Scroll through to find your birth year and then click to listen. Some of these songs have been lost through the years, many of them for good reason!

Men named Hank dominated early before stars like Freddie Hart, Ronnie Milsap, Willie Nelson Clint Black took over to close the 1980s. More recently it's been Tim Mcgraw, Rodney Atkins, Kane Brown and Morgan Wallen. Did the most-played country song from the year you were born become a favorite of yours later? All info comes from Billboard's country airplay charts.

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