OMMA Catalogue Number

OMMA-0028

Artist

Taylor Swift

Title

“Tim McGraw”

Release Details

Issued in the United States on 19 June 2006 by Big Machine Records as a three-track promotional CD single (BMRTS0101). Distributed to country-radio programmers in connection with Swift’s debut-single campaign, the disc contains the album cut of “Tim McGraw” (3:52), a radio edit (3:39), and a repeated album cut (3:52). The recording preceded Swift’s self-titled debut album by approximately four months.

Edition & Variant Identification

United States radio-promotion issue with catalogue number BMRTS0101, jewel-case artwork, and no barcode. Its catalogue number and three-track program distinguish it from a separately documented catalogue-numberless CDr promotion.

Matrix & Pressing Data

Hub inscription: 6526AM-01 BMRTS0101 061805-28

Physical Description

Standard 12-centimeter compact disc with a custom-printed disc face, housed in a clear jewel case with a custom color picture insert and a printed rear title and track list insert. No barcode present.

Factory-Origin Characteristics

No factory-origin anomalies or other distinguishing manufacturing characteristics are noted.

Condition Report

The disc and printed inserts are recorded in Near Mint condition.

Provenance

Acquired through eBay from seller toysyndicate on 21 July 2025.

Market Context & Historical Notes

The Taylor Swift canon begins with reference to a different country singer, “Tim McGraw.” Released when she was sixteen, four months before her debut album, “Tim McGraw” introduced the power of reminiscing, a subject she would spend the next decades exploring. The song asks how a relationship will survive in memory through music, clothing, landscape, and the ordinary things people leave behind. With McGraw, then an established country singer, becoming a private code between two teenagers. Swift made an intensely personal story immediately legible to strangers.

Swift writes from the present toward the future, imagining when she will exist as someone else’s memory. That double perspective has remained central to her work as her music moved through various genres and stages of her career.

Released by Big Machine, a startup independent label that her father invested in at the time of her signing, Swift and Big Machine’s campaign was an unusually direct promotional effort. Swift visited radio stations and performed personally for programmers. This CD connects t to the institutional process by which the then unknown was introduced to regional and national audiences. It is thought that approximately 250–500 copies of this CD were produced, although this number is not clearly documented.

Canonical Status in OMMA

OMMA recognizes Big Machine BMRTS0101 as a canonical Taylor Swift origin object: the promotional physical debut associated with her first official single and the earliest documented label-issued compact disc in her public discography. It is properly classified as a radio-promotion debut rather than a retail debut. This designation does not encompass earlier private demos, songwriter recordings, or other unpublished material.

References and Source Documentation

MusicBrainz, “Release ‘Tim McGraw’ by Taylor Swift”. Release date, catalogue number, promotional status, packaging, track sequence, timings, songwriting, and production credits.

MusicBrainz / Cover Art Archive, “Release ‘Tim McGraw’ by Taylor Swift — Cover Art”.

Discogs, “Taylor Swift – Tim McGraw”.

EIL, “Taylor Swift Tim McGraw US Promo CD Single”. Specialist listing documenting the three-track program, custom-printed disc, picture insert, rear insert, and catalogue number.

MusicRadar, “Back in 2006, a ‘Fearless’ Taylor Swift Took a Hands-On Approach to Getting Her Music Played on the Radio”. Retrospective documentation of Swift’s early radio-promotion campaign.