by DAN BUSKIRK

Teenage recording artists tend to fall into two categories: either they are big-voiced, American idol-styled belters or squeaky-voiced bubblegum pop stars. Yet 16-year-old Mt. Saint Joseph junior Catherine Tuttle’s debut album, whose release she’ll celebrate with a performance this Friday at Plymouth Meeting’s Barnes & Noble bookstore, reveals a self-possessed artistic voice that is purely her own.

Tuttle’s debut album titled 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. Where does an unassuming kid from the Philly suburbs gather such talent?

For starters, partially from the atmosphere in which she’s been raised. Catherine (or Cat to her friends) is the daughter of Richard Tuttle and Lucie Daigle, founders of Six Pack, a local institution providing bluesy rock and roll to the area since 1994. Catherine was just a child at the time, but sitting in on the band’s early rehearsals made a big impression on the five-year-old, watching her parents connect to the passion of the music. At six, she started to study classical piano, but she awards equal importance to her childhood discovery of her mother’s Joni Mitchell records. “I love Joni,” she gushes. “I never tire of her songs.” Catherine’s mother, Lucie, grew up in Quebec, so being raised bilingual gave Catherine a gift for accents. Catherine was obviously a natural performer; the day we talked, her mother recounted Catherine’s one-girl living room performances of multi-character, multi-accented skits. (The interview had to be paused while Catherine’s blushing subsided.)

Catherine’s gift for performance led her to the Chestnut Hill’s Water Tower Theater Group, playing parts in youth productions of Beauty & The Beast and Peter Pan. Meanwhile, she would accompany her parents as they performed in area clubs, sometimes climbing on stage to add her own vocals to the mix.

But it was only a few years ago that she began to write her own songs. “They came in bits and pieces. Sometimes I write them in a pad I keep by my bed, sometimes while I’m at the piano. And I have a million marble notebook journals as well.”

These journals form the basis of her songs, sprawling and poetic ruminations that stretch beyond verse-chorus-verse and into unpredictable tempo changes and chord progressions. Perhaps this jazziness has been absorbed from Catherine’s love of Joni Mitchell, but she is also firmly in the tradition of wise-beyond-their-years talents like Laura Nyro and Philly’s own Essra Mohawk. After recording demos in the family’s studio, the songs caught the ear of Morning Star Studios owner Glenn Barrett. Barrett has worked with such single-name stars like Elton and Sting, and he knew just the sort of talent that could add flesh to the songs’ unusual structures. The line-up of session musicians he gathered had worked for top-rank artists like Billy Joel, James Taylor and Erykah Badu.

“Catherine is really a unique talent,” Barrett enthused. “Very emotionally connected. Her harmonies are quite sophisticated, when it came time to add the string arrangements, they really needed to be approached from a classical viewpoint.”

Catherine admits to being a little intimidated by the assembled talent, but quickly found her place. “One of the string players made a mistake, and the other three began mocking him relentlessly. I was happy to see that these very accomplished and serious musicians could laugh about the process. We’re all pretty much in the same boat. There was a lot of camaraderie among all of the musicians.”

The final 12-song project, now being released under the title Peel, is a dizzying journey through this young talent’s heart. With titles like “Life in a Bottle” and “I Confess,” Catherine gives us a glimpse into the ups and downs of relationships, inflamed by the unguarded emotionalism of youth. There is a moving sense of drama with the best of the songs; take for example this chorus from “Kerosene”:

“You saw my pain through a silver mirror.

It was rusted with tears I would’ve died to fight.

My tears were like kerosene to your fears.

You knew it wasn’t quite right.”

The songs sometimes veer toward out-and-out melodrama (and isn’t that a big part of being 16?), but the lyrics are counterbalanced by Tuttle’s fully-blossomed gifts as a vocalist. Her voice is warm as embers and instantly involves the listener. Although she can belt with the best of them, Catherine knows that the large emotions of the songs speak loud enough that she doesn’t have to over-sing them to get their point across. To sing every song as if the gas pedal is pushed to the floor is a common mistake of young vocalists, and it’s Catherine’s restraint and nuance that bodes most promisingly for her future musical endeavors.

Catherine is still investigating where to take her music from here. She is serious about her studies and seems involved with many other friends and activities as well. What does the future hold? “Well, I’m finishing high school first,” she laughs.

The CD release party and performance for Catherine Tuttle’s debut release, Peel, will be taking place at the Barnes & Noble’s Plymouth Meeting store on Friday, October 24, at 8 p.m. The CD can also be purchased at www.catherinetuttle.com.