Years of work culminate in singer-songwriter Scott's CD

Utah-based singer/songwriter Carrie Scott was inspired by her older sister when it came to writing music.

"I have a musical family," Scott said during an interview last week. "I used to watch my sister write songs and decided that I wanted to write songs, too. I actually wrote my first song when I was 8 years old."

Music has always been a passion for Scott. She attended Brigham Young University through scholarships in classical and contemporary voice. Her major was media music. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in music in 2005.

Scott, who has a day job at an orthodontist office, said she had been working on her new CD for about two years.

"That doesn't include the songwriting," she said. "I've been writing songs for this CD for seven years. But I started working on the CD in earnest two years ago. When I first started making this album, I wanted to be sure it kind of showed the different facets of my personality."

The CD "Segue," which is available at CDbaby.com and Scott's myspace page (www.myspace.com/scottiethehottiemusic), was only supposed to contain 10 songs, Scott said.

"But after I finished the initial recording, I went back and added two more songs," she said. "It was a last-minute change that, I think, was a nice addition."

Making the CD was a great experience, Scott said. "It was rewarding to see something that started as a thought in my mind become a reality. And to work with these wonderful musicians was nothing short of amazing."

One of the most difficult aspects of making the CD was the fact that Scott did everything from writing, recording, producing and promoting the disc.

"I didn't realize how much work that would be," she said. "But it is great in this day and age that an independent artist can do something like this on her own."

Among the songs on the album, there are two that weren't fully written by Scott — "Heatwave" and "Living for the City."

"'Heatwave' was originally going to be my cover of the Bronski Beat song," Scott said. "But after we laid down the foundation, I took it home and wrote some other lyrics and the rap. And it sounded kind of cool. So, I changed it at the last minute."

Scott's cover of Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City" comes with a little back-story, Scott said.