Hill area teen releases CD on major recording label
by FRANK KEEL
The Mount St. Joseph graduate contemplates the release of her first major label CD.
Singer-songwriter Catherine Tuttle, 18, a resident of Whitemarsh and recent graduate of Mt. St. Joseph Academy, is an emerging artist to watch.
Recently signed to the influential London-based Candid Records label, Catherine is poised to bring her mature and introspective music to a wider audience with her Candid Records debut, What They Will Find. Tuttle will have a record release party this Saturday, August 20, 7 p.m., at the Tin Angel, 20 S. 2nd St.
What listeners will find is a young, talented woman with a level of maturity and self-assuredness beyond her years. Music is in her French-Canadian bloodline. Her parents were in several different bands for more than a decade and Catherine’s music bears traces of her family’s musical influences, including the Beatles and Rolling Stones (dad Richard), the Smashing Pumpkins (brother Patrick, himself a drummer) and especially, Joni Mitchell (mom Lucie).
Catherine is not only a masterful pianist but also an accomplished painter and actress who has participated in the theatrical arts throughout her formative years. “I first gravitated to piano and immersed myself in nearly four years of classical training, and I recently began playing guitar and bass, as well,” she said. By the age of 13, the songwriting muse inspired her to begin writing her own songs. On her 16th birthday, her parents surprised her with a gift of studio time that proved to be the genesis of her budding record career.
Word quickly spread of the young talent. Over the past two years, Catherine has been honored to share stages with like-minded, established artists like Phil Roy, Jeffrey Gaines, Grey Eye Glances, Trace Fury, Stargazer Lily, Lauren Hart, Ben Arnold and Amos Lee. Her songs were twice selected as “Philly Local Pick of the Day” on radio station WXPN.
Catherine will enter her freshman year at Harvard University this September. Though she was also accepted to England’s prestigious Oxford University, she opted to stay closer to home and was also attracted to the Boston area’s thriving music scene.
She plans on balancing the demands of academia with her musical career. In addition to several planned east coast performances, she will likely do a series of concerts in England in the coming months.
There are surprising musical touchstones in Catherine’s work that reflect a fondness for classic pop tunesmiths and singers, rather than an attraction to popular music’s “flavor of the moment” artists who are forgotten the minute their songs fall off the sales charts. Joni Mitchell’s melodic, insightful and confessional style of songwriting is readily detectable in Catherine’s original compositions.
So, too, is the intelligent, challenging songwriting style of the late, great Laura Nyro. Vocally, Catherine has drawn comparisons to everyone from Tori Amos to Carole King to Alanis Morrisette. “It’s an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence with artists of that caliber,” says the soft-spoken 18-year-old.
Last year Tuttle independently produced a CD called Peel, a group of songs of surprising depth. Much of the credit for the creation of Peel goes to Glenn Barratt, chief engineer and producer at Morning Star Studios in Springhouse. Glenn recognized Catherine’s talent and potential in the original recording session, encouraging her to complete Peel and agreed to work with her again on What They Will Find.
Among many positive reviews, Peel earned a five-star rave on Musical Discoveries.com. “There is energy throughout (Peel), with a mellowness in tone and the feeling of experienced proficiency that usually comes with age,” wrote Musical Discoveries’ critic Audrey Elliott in March 2004. The Chestnut Hill Local also raved, “Peel is a showcase for her shockingly adult voice, merging the soulful yearning of Dusty Springfield with Tori Amos’ injured emotionalism, as well as adding her own murmured, husky phrasing.”
Among the many songs on What They Will Find is the bouncy title track, which recounts the slow dissolution of a relationship and the accompanying ambivalence former couples often feel in the aftermath (It burned out, but it never glowed/The world turns and it lets us know we’re ok). The buoyant pop verses segue seamlessly into string-backed, ethereal choruses, calling to mind Laura Nyro’s pop confessionals.
“In Short” is the rocking flip-side to the no-regrets melancholy of the title track, as the promise of new love — and the accompanying butterflies — come knocking at the singer’s door (In short, I don’t know you very well/Then why can’t I seem to stand still/Every time you look at me/I feel like am such a little girl).
“Restless,” an ode to the freedom of life on the road, carries faint echoes of Joni Mitchell in Catherine’s world-weary vocals and the piano-drive folk-pop feel of the song. “Alone,” with its instantly memorable sing-song melody, sounds like a lost Suzanne Vega track.
“Continuing my education is important to me, as is pursuing my music career,” explained Catherine. “I intend to handle the demands of both pursuits. They say life is a journey, and I intend to enjoy every step of the way.”
For more information about the CD release party, call 610-668-1718 or e-mail frank@keelcom.com.
