Up-and-coming country singer Abbi Scott said she dreams of sold-out arenas, personalized tours and selling millions of records.

“I don’t want to be a small-time singer who just does it for fun,” Scott said. “I want to be Garth Brooks big. It’s not for the money, I just want to live out my passion and bring back the soul of country.”

Scott first realized this was her dream around age 5, while standing in her living room during American Idol commercials and singing into a hairbrush for her parents to “judge” her.

At age 8, Scott performed live in public for the first time at a county fair in her home state of Indiana. She won the contest that year and for the next six years.

It wasn’t until Scott performed at the Colgate Country Showdown in 2009 that she met several people with singer/songwriter contacts in Nashville. At age 14, Scott and her family traveled to Music City for the first time.

“After that, I traveled back and forth between Nashville and Indiana two weekends a month all through high school,” Scott said. “Sometimes the trip would be for writing and sometimes I would come for gigs.”

Now a sophomore on campus at Lipscomb, Scott studies Public Relations and works with publicist Katherine Cook to perform as many times and at as many venues as possible.

“I went to college because I thought it would be the wise decision while I’m waiting to get my break,” Scott said. “Performing is what I love to do. It’s my passion and it’s what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

Scott takes to social media, specifically Twitter, several times a day to engage with her followers and promote her music. She has upward of 27,500 followers, with that number growing each day.

“The mother of a little girl from my hometown once posted a video of her singing the first song I ever released,” Scott said. “She was so cute with her little purple guitar and princess dress saying ‘Mommy, look! I’m Abbi Scott!’”

Since making the move to Nashville last year, Scott’s numerous performances continue to put her in the public eye.

Scott sang at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention last spring, performed at different venues for all four days of CMA Fest during the summer and opened for Luke Bryan at the Bridgestone Arena.

“It’s easy to say that performing at Bridgestone and opening for Luke Bryan is the highlight of my career so far,” Scott said.

In June, Scott’s first single “Got My Own Shotgun” took the No. 1 slot for five weeks on the IceMan’s Internet Radio Countdown. It was up to her fans to pull this off: In order to land the No. 1 spot, listeners had to keep calling in and requesting  the song be played.

Scott’s newest single “Yesterday’s Daisies,” which dropped on iTunes Sept. 6, is available for request on the Iceman’s show this month as well.

To vote for Scott’s song and request to have it played, fans can call 1-844-423-6261 and tune into bestcountryradio.com to listen.

“Yesterday’s Daisies” and “Flying” are Scott’s two newest singles and are both available on iTunes along with “Got My Own Shotgun.” Scott’s focus now is to build a team, focus on her music and, she hopes, make a video for “Yesterday’s Daisies.”

“My older stuff was more of a jumbled mess of what everyone else wanted me to be,” Scott said. “My newer stuff is my sound. It’s me.”

Scott has local shows lined up for the coming weeks, including a performance at The Row at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29. Scott tentatively plans to perform at Trunk or Treat on campus Oct. 28.

“For me and my music, I don’t want to be compared to anyone else,” Scott said. “I don’t want to be a copy of anyone. I just want to be the next Abbi Scott.”

Photos taken at Scott’s album release show last week by Ben Davis