If her voice seems worldly wise, well, she’s learned from the best

The first question that usually pops up when Sonya Kitchell’s voice comes pouring out of a stereo is the last one she wants to hear: “She’s how old?” That’s understandable. Such warm, honey-textured tones, arching smoothly through shifting layers of emotion, don’t usually emerge from a 16-year-old.

Years of exposure to amateur-hour shows such as “American Idol,” “Star Search” and “America’s Most Talented Kids” have largely dulled the public’s senses to the pleasures of genuinely prodigal vocal skills. But Kitchell, who still lives with her parents on the 40-acre western Massachusetts farm where she was born, is the real deal.

Her engaging voice is only one part of the package. Add to that her songwriting (she already has a catalog of more than 100 songs), her expressive interpretations, her sophisticated musical choices and her slender, blond beauty.

A glance at Kitchell might suggest comparisons to Christina Aguilera, LeAnn Rimes, Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne, among other teenage musical princesses. Like so many other young singers, Kitchell also has been compared to Norah Jones -- in part because she, like Jones, has strong roots in jazz.

But Kitchell is much more comfortable speaking about the influence she feels from earlier artists -- Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles -- rather than contemporary performers. She insists that, aside from Joni Mitchell, there is little on the present-day music scene that appeals to her.

“I get comparisons to some current singers,” Kitchell says, “and it’s a very nice compliment. But it’s different from being compared to someone who’s from the past, because it’s not like you’re competing with them in any way. You don’t want to sound like anybody who’s out there currently. You want to have your own voice and sound, different from anyone else.”

Kitchell’s first commercial release, “Cold Day,” is an EP that came out this year. Both the EP and her live performances have been generating rave reviews from critics in the New England area.

Her debut album, “Words Came Back to Me,” is scheduled to arrive in late June. But she has been on a musically creative fast track for years. She began studying voice with a pair of superb jazz vocalists -- Sheila Jordan and Rebecca Paris -- when she was 10 and performed at the Special Olympics World Games in 1999.

A tape she submitted for Down Beat magazine’s 2003 student competition won her best jazz vocal and best jazz original song awards in her age group, and she is one of 40 composers younger than 30 worldwide chosen to study at the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center.

Kitchell was inspired to write her first song, “If I Cried,” by the tragedy of Sept. 11. And the songs on “Cold Day” reflect a similar combination of emotional intimacy and worldly views. Most of her works, she says, found their genesis in the quiet landscape around her family home.

“One of my newer songs,” Kitchell continues, “came when I was taking a winter walk in the woods. It was this beautiful sunny, snowy, quiet day, and something about it was so inspiring. The truth is that I actually have a hard time writing when I’m not at home. I’ll go on the road and write all these stupid little ideas, but they don’t really come together until I go home.”

“Home,” however, is becoming less of a presence in Kitchell’s life as her career begins to expand. A sophomore in high school, she studies independently, e-mailing assignments to her teachers. When she travels, her mother, illustrator Gayle Kabaker (her father is artist Peter Kitchell), travels with her as a tour manager. She’s recently opened shows for Richie Havens, Angelique Kidjo, Martin Sexton, Tuck & Patti and Madeleine Peyroux. “Actually, I think I’m having an entirely different education, just talking to these people backstage, hearing what they have to say, learning from them,” she says. “It’s an amazing education.”

That education is likely to expand dramatically as Kitchell’s visibility picks up. Last fall, she and her band did a showcase for several major record companies. Although her first CD, like her EP, will be on the small Velour label, it seems only a matter of time before this fascinating performer moves into the national spotlight. Kitchell views that possible future with a characteristically mature-beyond-her-years optimism.

“I love to sing,” she says. “And I love to write. I write all the time, in fact. And that’s pretty much what I want to do: write about everything -- people, relationships, the weather, politics -- and do it in a way that somehow makes a difference.”