Kate Cotter recently said she never intended to become a professional musician, but a story from her youth tells a different tale.

“I remember going door to door with my girlfriend to see if people would pay us to sing songs,” she said during a recent interview at the Spread Peace Cafe in downtown Reno. “Our parents found out and we got in big trouble for that.”

Twenty six years later, Cotter, now 33, still looks for gigs but with grown-up credentials behind her. She has spent the last decade or so making music with Reno as her home base and on Dec. 4 she will hold a party at John Ascuaga’s Nugget to mark the release of her latest album, “Drink the Desert.”

Born in Reno, Cotter’s family moved to Oregon for a while and she attended college in Tennessee. She came back to northern Nevada and began playing some open mic nights around town. Cotter had always written songs and loved music, but she said it wasn’t until her casual performances garnered her some strong local support that she began to pursue it as a career. She was accepted to live in the Riverside artist lofts in downtown Reno, subsidizing her pursuit of a music career.

Her formula is not unusual — a girl with a guitar and a soft voice — but she strives to make herself stand out with original music. She wrote the 10 songs on her new album, and even prides herself on being unique when she does covers, such as for the local Dollars for Dylan and Bones for Stones fundraisers.

“The biggest compliment someone can give is saying you have an original sound,” Cotter said. “I’ve always intentionally tried not to emulate anyone when I do a cover. I try to give it my own sound.”

Her original work on “Drink the Desert” has a familiar feel musically — heavy on acoustic guitar and soothing instrumentals and backing vocals — so it is in the lyrics that the listener will find Cotter’s unique voice and experience. The first song, “Saloon Hotel,” for example, came from a dream she had and draws on Western imagery with a marching drumbeat. The title track to the album “Drink the Desert,” is a metaphor for life. People often use the term “dry spell” to refer to an emptiness of some kind, Cotter said, focusing only on the barrenness of the surface and ignoring the richness just below. She said her recent songwriting efforts have been strongly influenced by the music and storytelling of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.

Cotter’s longtime musical friend Tim Snider, front man for the local world rock band Sol’ Jibe, and Sam Minaie, a Reno native and renowned bass player and jazz musician, produced “Drink the Desert,” which was recorded at Imirage Sound Lab in Sparks. Snider also contributed to the album by playing violin, guitar and mandolin. The two have played together since Cotter’s open mic nights a decade ago.

“The CD is really pretty and honest,” Snider said. “It sounds like Kate to me. It’s hard to come across albums that end up sounding honest and we really accomplished that.”

Releasing this album will allow Cotter to go back on the road, she said, traveling and performing for as long as the work will sustain the tour. Her upcoming schedule includes a New Year’s gig in Costa Rica.

“I feel like I have more momentum than I’ve ever had before,” she said.

For her next musical experiment, Cotter said she has been working on something very different. She has two projects going: one with Snider and local rapper Tony Walker, known on stage as Locus, combining songwriting with an artist of a very different style. In another project, she and electronic musician Dave Madsen, known by stage name Kristophari, are combining melody and lyrics. She hopes to debut both projects in the near future.

The CD release party for “Drink the Desert” will be at 9 p.m. Dec. 4 in the Celebrity Showroom at John Ascuaga’s Nugget. Tickets cost $19.50 and include a copy of the album. Purchase tickets online at www.janugget.com or by calling 356-3300. Anyone under age 21 must be accompanied by an adult.

For more on Cotter, visit www.katecotter.com. The CD is available for purchase in Reno at Discology, located at 190 California Ave., or online at iTunes or www.cdbaby.com.