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<\/p>\nThough she’s formally trained in classical and opera \u2013 she studied voice and piano in Italy \u2013 Washington state-based Hilary Scott chose the musical path of singer-songwriter more than a decade ago. From a very early age, Scott was more concerned with expressing her thoughts and ideas via words than playing with the other neighborhood kids. Most everyone assumed she’s grow up to be a writer of prose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would come home from school,\u201d she recalls, \u201cand I would sit at my mom’s computer and write short stories.\u201d Scott acknowledges that over the years she’s grown as a writer. \u201cWhen I was really young, my songwriting efforts were almost always about my own feelings, my own reflections on the world,\u201d she says. Scott acknowledges that approach is a fine way to start writing songs. But these days, she writes from the perspective of others in addition to her own experiences. \u201cI think that’s what’s changed,\u201d she laughs. \u201cMy songs have better stories now than they used to.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Scott put those skills together in support of her recent Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. To help raise funds to make and release her 2015 album Freight Train Love<\/i>, one of the premiums that Scott offered was a song written-to-order. \u201cAnd it ended up being a very large portion of the funds that we raised,\u201d she says. \u201cI think I had 23 different individuals who paid for an original song or a cover!\u201d<\/p>\n
The songwriting prompts were often nothing more than a key word, phrase or theme; from there, Scott was left to her own creative devices to write a song. \u201cIt’s ended up being a great writing exercise,\u201d she says. \u201cI push myself outside of the stories I might ordinarily want to tell, whatever autobiographical things I want to write about.\u201d That project has kept Scott busy, and she’s still not done with all the songs.<\/p>\n
It’s often noted that singer-songwriters tend to be an introverted lot. That seeming paradox \u2013 an introvert being onstage in front of an audience \u2013 resonates with Scott. \u201cThe stage provides a distance, a barrier between you and your audience,\u201d she observes. \u201cSo even though it seems like you’re being extroverted or exhibitionist, it’s still very much an intimate thing to be onstage and perform for people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Onstage performance is closely linked to the recording process for Hilary Scott. She prefers to develop her material onstage, only then taking it into the studio. \u201cI have always felt that there’s a fine line between going into the studio too early and going in too late,\u201d she says. While allowing that there’s something to be said for the studio capturing the energy of a brand-new song, she believes that \u201calmost without exception, my songs really come into themselves through live performance. And the longer that I perform them live, the better that they generally become. So for me, the workshop is live performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
And even though on the surface there might seem little connection between her musical training and the music she’s made on more than ten albums, Scott believes that her time in Italy informed her approach to making popular music. \u201cI was studying opera, so I was very focused on my classical music studies,\u201d she says. She was also becoming fluent in conversation Italian. \u201cI felt like I really started to understand the current culture when I could finally understand what the singer-songwriters were singing about,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Scott recalls a memory from early in her performing career, one that gave her encouragement toward a future as a singer-songwriter. \u201cI played a festival, and I was the only opening act for Tanya Tucker.\u201d Tucker and her band had flown in directly, and didn’t have their standard supply of CDs and t-shirts for sale. \u201cI was the only artist who had any merchandise,\u201d laughs Scott. \u201cI sold a ton<\/i> of records and a ton<\/i> of t-shirts. That was definitely a night when I thought, ‘Oh, I could see this being a good thing!’\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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