Scott Kingsley Swift, 73, a former stockbroker, and Andrea Swift, 68, a former marketing executive, married in 1988 and had two children, Taylor (born in 1989) and Austin (born in 1992). They settled in a 15-acre Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, Christmas tree farm.

Recognizing Taylor's talent, Andrea left her job to help a then-teenage Taylor take on the competitive country music scene. When Taylor got a development deal with RCA Records at just 13 years old, the family uprooted themselves to the Nashville area for her career.

Taylor has said of her parents: "My dad is a Chatty Cathy, the social butterfly; friendly; knows everybody in the whole world by six degrees; tells me that every performance is the greatest he’s ever seen, every new outfit is the coolest. Constant cheerleader. It’s cool to have pie-in-the-sky Dad, down-to-earth Mom." They separated around 2011, after roughly 20 years of marriage, but still remain a united front behind Taylor.

Taylor's brother, Austin Kingsley Swift, pursued higher education at…