FAIRBANKS — Bonnie Whitmore will admit that her last album, “Embers to Ashes,” had a body count.  In one song a man is burned alive and in another a different man is a victim of a knife that just “slipped.”

The lyrics are not literal, but the woman behind the songs insists that she didn’t mean to write songs that were so dark.  That’s just what came to her during a bad breakup.

“It’s funny how that came together,” She said via phone from Fort Worth, Texas.  “I personally believe that by writing these angsty or sad songs, that’s how I relieve myself.”

“How do people write these happy songs?”  She asked.  “My inspiration comes from the other stuff.”

Ironic, considering that Whitmore also keeps a blog where she documents her baking adventures.  She shares her favorite recipes as well as stories.  She baked cookies for fans of the SXSW music festival in March.

“Embers to Ashes” was released earlier this year.  It’s her second album but her first concept album.  Her previous album, “Love Too Sweet,” was good, in her opinion, but it lacked cohesiveness and didn’t have the musical closure she was looking for.

With “Embers to Ashes,” Whitmore spent a lot of time conceptualizing it, from the songs to the visual aspects.  In the end, it was a success.

“I got to say exactly what I wanted to say,” She said.

The result is an Americana/country-tinged trip down memory lane.  The songs are sometimes sweet country ballads with melancholy lyrics.  Sometimes her voice trembles mournfully as she croons over her words.  At times her voice rises and falls with a Brandi Carlile-like coarseness.

Her inspirations are as varied as the music she creates.  She admitted that her biggest influences are her parents.  She grew up in a musical family — dad was a singer-songwriter and mom was a classically trained opera singer. Whitmore traveled with her dad as part of “Daddy and the Divas.” A lot of the first music Whitmore was exposed to was her father’s rock and pop covers done in a country style.

“I grew up with Chuck Berry, Tom Petty, The Beatles, Eagles, but it was all my dad’s interpretation, my dad singing these songs,” She said.  “It never occurred to me that it was someone else.”

While her dad was singing pop rock, her mom was exposing her to opera.  Despite the funky influences, Whitmore is glad she experienced them.

“It’s funny, that was just my normal life,” She said.  “In retrospect, it was not normal for most people.”