When Jewel first emerged on the contemporary music scene in early 1995, even she didn’t expect what was to ensue. The album that so emphatically delivered her to the attention of the general populous—Pieces of You—became one of the best-selling debut albums of all time and spawned hits such as “Who Will Save Your Soul?” and “You Were Meant For Me.” But no one was more surprised about her musical eruption than Jewel herself. Now returning to Santa Barbara County on the back of her seventh studio release, Lullaby, there isn’t anyone more grateful for her longevity, either.
“I still remember when I was getting looked at by records while I was homeless,” Jewel recalled. “I heard what was on the radio, and I thought, ‘There’s no way this is going to work.’ These people are going to get fired for signing me! I thought if I could have a career like John Prine, where you can tour and make a living, it would be amazing, and that’s what I set out to do. I was looking for longevity—I wasn’t looking at being a big sensation. I was hoping to be able to do this when I’m 60 still and it just got a lot bigger than anyone anticipated—including me.”
While a lot of Jewel’s success can be attributed to her remaining true to her muse and always writing from the heart, it can also be put down to the broad musical palette from which she draws. Her songs have always been strongly lyric driven, but they’ve also embraced a range of musical genres. Be it folk or country, no matter what musical tangent she might be currently exploring, Jewel has crafted a career out of infusing her albums with mood. And her latest offering—Lullaby—grabs that intent and well and truly runs with it.
“I really wanted to create a mood album that was soothing and simultaneously stimulating for adults,” Jewel explained. “I wanted to make an album you could put on when you come home and listen to while you have a glass of wine and unwind from your day. But I also wanted it to work for kids. I was really fascinated by making an album that works on more than one level. The album is very lyric driven—it’s very singer-songwriter—and, at the same time, it has a soothing mood that could lull an infant to sleep. I wanted to make an album that worked in a way like some of my favorite movies, like Shrek, are able to do.”
The album draws from a collection of songs Jewel has composed throughout her career. While some are new, others are compositions that maybe didn’t quite fit the tone or temperament of previous releases. But they’re songs that still speak to her. Some of the material even reaches as far back as her early evolution as a singer-songwriter when she was an unknown artist living on the streets and sleeping in her van. More importantly, perhaps, they’re deeply personal songs that have served a cathartic role across a very undulating life. But they’re songs she wanted to share nonetheless.
“These songs are mellow lullabies that I had written for myself over the years,” Jewel explained. “I had a stressful upbringing. I moved out when I was 15, and I have always used songs and writing to help me relax or calm down or just soothe me in general. I wrote ‘Angel Standing By’ while I was homeless, just because it was so hard for me to fall asleep while on the street. It comforted me to think that there might be an angel watching over me. These are songs that I have always written for myself, and I thought, ‘Well, I’m an adult, but enjoy these kinds of songs, so there must be other adults that enjoy them as well.’”
While Lullaby might see Jewel returning to a musical landscape similar to the one that launched her career, each of her seven albums has afforded the Utah native (who was raised in Alaska) a distinct musical progression. She has explored folk-rock and pop and, on 0304, she even dabbled a little with beats and synthesizers. Her last album—Perfectly Clear—saw Jewel whole-heartedly embrace the world of country music. When the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart, it raised many an eyebrow. But for Jewel, it wasn’t so much a musical reinvention as an enlightenment into a side of her musical personality she’d only been able to hint at previously.
“I’ve always written songs that are very influenced by country music,” Jewel admitted. “But they were a mixture of enough styles that I was able to get them onto other albums, like ‘You Were Meant For Me’ on Pieces of You and a song called ‘Stephenville, TX’ on the Goodbye Alice in Wonderland album. That song has definite country twinges, but also has a strong folk style, and it fit the mood of that album. But some of them are blatant old-school country, and I wasn’t able to stick them on any other projects until I actually did a full-fledged country album.”
Given the intimate nature of Lullaby, Jewel is taking to the road in support of its release with just her songbook and acoustic guitar. While the attraction of stepping onto a stage with a backing band and the energy that results is something she can’t deny, Jewel is once again relishing the opportunity of performing solo and acoustic and the liberty it affords. And the intimacy the experience offers means that even with an armory of 500 songs, leaving the songbook at home doesn’t usually present too much drama.
“When I’m solo acoustic, I’m in smaller venues, and I don’t have to follow a set list,” Jewel explained. “So every night is a different show. I just walk out on stage and decide what I feel like singing once I get to the microphone. And it allows me to have an interaction with fans that really allows me to enjoy my job. I have amazing fans. I have over 500 songs, and they know all of them, and they bring me the lyrics and tabs in case I can’t remember the songs. And lots of times I just have to learn them on the spot. It’s like visiting with family where I’m able to talk and tell stories, and play impromptu songs.”
In a career that has spanned almost 14 years, generated 27 million record sales, and bestowed her with three Grammy Award nominations, Jewel has never lost track of the foundations of her craft. Music isn’t a business or an industry, and numbers can’t reflect the degree of connection a song makes with a listener. Jewel feels that the real value of a song’s worth lies in the connection it makes and the diversity of those unions.
“I think the record industry and also radio industry sometimes miss how fans enjoy and participate in music,” Jewel observed. “I think we pick music according to what mood we’re in. We have songs we like to hear when we drive. We have songs we like to hear when we break up. And we have songs we like to hear when we cook dinner. I definitely use music like that, and I tend to write music that way, too. If I’m in an excited, high-energy mood, I write a high-energy song, and if I’m scared and feeling unsure, I write something that’s really soothing and uplifting. I have used it as my own medicine cabinet.”
Contact freelancer Brett Leigh Dicks through Arts Editor Shelly Cone at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2009.