‘IIDOL’ THREAT

17-year-old Sonya Kitchell is everything the Idols are not: Thoughtful, emotional, genuine, and — so far — affordable.

PREVIEW by John Chacona Contributing writer

John Chacona, an Erie writer, is a contributor to Coda and Signal to Noise magazines. His blog on music and culture, ‘let’s call this,’ is at www.johnchacona.com.

On the surface, Sonya Kitchell would seem to be just what we need least — another American Idol.

With a new CD in heavy rotation at Starbucks, and fresh off an appearance on the David Letterman show, Kitchell, who will appear next Wednesday at Mercyhurst’s Walker Recital Hall, would seem to be the latest product of America’s starmaker machinery. Did I mention that she’s 17?

But look deeper, and you’ll find an artist of greater substance. For starters, she is more than a pretty voice. Kitchell also plays guitar with great sensitivity. And she writes her own material with a book of 100 songs to her credit. Who says high school kids lack motivation?
Not that Kitchell lacks competition credentials. In 2003, her song, “Romance” was awarded best original song and best jazz vocal at the Student Music Awards sponsored by the jazz journal Downbeat.

So she’s a jazz singer? Only if Norah Jones is your idea of a jazz singer. Though Kitchell began studying voice with jazz vocalists Sheila Jordan and Rebecca Paris when she was 10, Joni Mitchell is the influence she most often cites.

And her debut album, “Words Came Back to Me” (Velour Music Group), has much in common with the Canadian singer-songwriter’s early efforts. But Kitchell has a style of her own, and it begins with her voice — glowing, honeyed, and remarkably expressive for someone so young.

THE RECORD’S PRODUCTION slants in the Norah Jones direction with warm, acoustic guitars, wirebrushed drums, and spare, elliptical piano. On the first single, “Let Me Go,” Kitchell teases with languid phrasing in the Jonesian manner.

But as the CD progresses, Kitchell shows what she’s learned from Natalie Merchant and Mary Chapin Carpenter, and her greatest strength emerges: She’s a marvelous storyteller.
She’s not Dylan yet, but tell me how a girl of 17 can get inside the mind of “Jerry,” a man heartbroken when his wife left him, how she can sing this song with such aching understatement and restraint? Singing this subtle and refined wouldn’t make it past Paula, Randy, and Simon’s first cut.

But this writer’s ears tell him that Kitchell will be around long after Idols Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken have been forgotten — or has that moment already arrived?

For now, though, she still lives with her parents, illustrator Gayle Kabaker and artist Peter Kitchell, on the 40-acre western Massachusetts farm where she was born.

Mercyhurst has long had a tradition of presenting young artists just before their big career break. With appearances on the “CBS Today” show, Letterman, and on NPR, Kitchell’s breakout moment is just around the corner.

Don’t expect to see her for $15 the next time she comes through town. And that’s no “idol” threat.

Singer Sonya Kitchell will perform on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Mercyhurst College’s Walker Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 and are available at the box office, 824-3000.
For More Information on Sonya Kitchell, visit the Web site www.sonyakitchell.com.