An Atlanta native, Elliot's most unusual venue was along world famous Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco where she supported herself for five years as a street singer. Strangers were drawn in by the beauty of her voice. They stayed to listen because of her originality and genuineness. She is the only artist in street performer history to receive a one hundred dollar tip. That is a whole other story that you might hear between songs at one of her concerts.

      In 1986 Elliott moved to Nashville to seriously pursue her songwriting. Over the next few years she was hired as a staff writer for two major publishing companies. Her most notable cut is the song Corn, Water & Wood (co-written with Wendy Waldman and recorded by Michael Martin Murphey) which won the 1991 Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for Best Song of the Year. What impresses Carol most about those years were the incredibly talented songwriters and artists she came to know and admire and with whom she sometimes co-wrote - Walter Hyatt, David Olney, Mark Germino, Buddy Mondlock, Dave Mallett, Don Henry. These geniuses, mostly struggling in obscurity, inspired her to stay on her path.

      People are fascinated to learn that Elliott worked for Dolly Parton and other Nashville legends as a production coordinator. After helping them make their records during the day, she wrote and recorded 5 cassettes independently on her label, Heartstrong Records. Last year Elliott produced her first children's CD for storyteller Betty Ann Wylie. Titled "Mother Goose From Morning Til Night," it won the "Parents Choice Award."

      Elliott took a road less taken (by songwriters that is) to attend the first Sewanee Writer's Conference at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, in 1991.. This elite gathering is funded by a bequest from the estate of Tennessee Williams. Selected in poetry, she studied with Howard Nemerov, former Poet Laureate of the United States. Upon hearing her sing he said, "If I could sing like that I wouldn't bother with poetry."

      A New Folk finalist at the 1994 Kerrville Folk Festival, Elliott has been a regular on the main stage of both the summer and fall festivals. Her song Solitary Hero was included on the Women of Kerrville CD which led to a Women of Kerrville Tour with Tish Hinojosa, Eliza Gilkyson, Christine Albert and Catie Curtis. Elliott's song caught the ear of Taxim Records in Germany which released The People I Meet in Europe in 1999. In the spring of 1999 she appeared on a national German TV show and performed "Message from Walter" from the new CD.