Few artists can pray for a debut album
that even cracks the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart, let alone remain
there for nearly two years. But for Alaskan singer-songwriter Jewel, who
first was introduced to the record-buying public with the soulful ballad
"Who Will Save Your Soul," that prayer was answered on her first
major-label outing, the multi-platinum Pieces Of You. Make no mistake, however. This Jewel is no diamond in the rough. She has been a professional singer for much of her life, traveling and performing with her father long before she broke out on her own to launch a coffeeshop tour that would eventually lead to mega-stardom. LAUNCH's executive editor Dave DiMartino caught up with Jewel--who has just released her much-anticipated second album, Spirit--near Rochester, New York, shortly before she was to go onstage opening for Neil Young.
LAUNCH:
You had remarkable success with your debut album. Looking
back on the process, can you think of anything that led you to the place where you are today?
JEWEL:
It took a lot of touring. In the
beginning, a lot of radio stations said [my music] was unplayable, and
video shows and TV stations said it was unlistenable. Which was fine,
because I never expected to sell a lot of albums; [Pieces Of You] was
just supposed to be a time capsule of where I was. I was 19 and just
learning to write songs and play guitar. And I know that hard wood grows
slowly, and if I wanted to have a long-term career like Neil Young, it
would just take touring. I grew up doing live tours and playing in bars,
so it was what I love to do. I was just glad to not be living in my car
anymore, so I just toured. I would do 40 cities every 30 days, four
shows a day; I worked a lot. I had a really good time, and got enough of
a groundswell following to just keep playing. And my label kept me out
long enough that people couldn't ignore me anymore. Radio had to start
playing the songs.
LAUNCH:
Have you always wanted to be a
singer, a songwriter?
JEWEL:
When I was 18, I went through a
premature mid-life crisis. So many of us are asked to compromise our
pride and health in order to have these roofs over our heads. And I
didn't know how to face consciousness every day just passing time. I
didn't feel like I had any purpose in my life. My hands and my
creativity were going to waste. But I never even thought I could sing
and make a living because that was a hobby. A lot of us just aren't
taught that something you love can make you money. It wasn't until I got
fired from my last job that I decided: That's it. I don't care. I'd
rather die and drop out of the world rather than wake up every day and
be so unhappy. I never thought I'd get a record deal; I just wanted to
eat and do something I liked. It turned into this. And it's been a real
blessing.
LAUNCH:
I've never been to Alaska. What is it like there? Did you enjoy growing up there?
JEWEL:
I loved being raised there. There was a lot of silence and open space. In some ways we're sculpted by our environments. Our flesh is sculpted by what is around us, as well as our psyches...By silence. In silence you hear who you're going to become. You create yourself in silence. When you're surrounded by beauty and open space, it inspires you and it makes you feel that there's some sort of divine presence out there. Unlabeled. Having that as a youth--going through hard times--it kept me sane. As well as the discipline of being raised on a large homestead. That taught me a lot about doing what I'm doing now.
LAUNCH:
Did living on a homestead impact your life, the way you look at things?
JEWEL:
Probably only in a good way. I like people a lot, I wasn't raised to mistrust them. I was raised to be awake--to not kid yourself about people. I believe people are basically good; we all come from the same place, we all have fear. We want to be loved. We all want passion in our lives. It doesn't matter if you're rich or homeless, it's all the same.
LAUNCH:
You mentioned going through hard times. Is your life better now than it was before? Do you feel like you've had tougher times than the average person?
JEWEL:
It's hard to compare lives because everybody's bottom is their own bottom. Everybody experiences abuse in their own ways. It was a hard time, but I never felt I was given something I didn't have the tools to get over. Ultimately, my life forced me to figure out what I wanted to do. Which I think happens when you don't recognize the signs early enough. You get hints: "Hint, hint, hint, Jewel." Until I hit a wall. But that's nothing compared to what people spend their whole lives doing.
LAUNCH:
Coffee shops have really taken off as a big social thing in the past few years, and it seems the coffee shop looms large in your legend. In fact, you recorded much, if not all, of your first album in the coffee shop that became your homebase, right?
JEWEL:
It's the only place I really played. I was raised as a professional singer: Since I was eight, my dad and I made our living doing barroom tours. When I got older, I was playing on my own, and I lived in my car. A lot of the businesses there wanted you to play for $25 and food. But I couldn't afford that. This was my living, not just a hobby. So I found this coffee shop that just opened and was looking for business. They said I could keep the door money, and they would keep the coffee sales. And so I stuck with them and we both struggled together to get more people to come in.
LAUNCH:
And were you discovered there? Is that how you got your record deal?
JEWEL:
I just got a good word of mouth going. It was never a goal to make demos for records labels. Word spread somehow to A&R in L.A. and then one night someone from Virgin came down, and--this was before I knew about the beauty of expense accounts--I bought him a burrito; he told me I could make a record. Then another label came and another label came. It happened like that.
LAUNCH:
You obviously are no stranger to live gigs. You must travel a lot. Do you like being on the road?
JEWEL:
I'm learning to like it. It's very discombobulating for me. I'm definitely not a Willie Nelson who loves being on the road. There's not enough quiet; I can't be alone ever. I'm talking about myself all the time, and that becomes absurd. But I'm learning ways to keep myself quiet in my head, and remind myself of beauty--to keep inspired. But my spirit isn't really happy. I'd rather not be doing this, I don't care enough anymore. I would rather be in Alaska. I'm not doing this for fame or money. I'm doing it because it serves my spirit and it reminds people to live their dreams. That's needed in the world now. I love it for that reason. I am made for it. I can sing four shows a day and not ruin my voice. I'm learning how to be good at it.
LAUNCH:
It must have been a real eye-opener for you to go out on tour. You've played now with Neil Young and Bob Dylan. That must have been amazing! Tell me about it.
JEWEL:
It didn't start out that way! At first nobody would take me out on the road, so I had to do my own coffee shop tour. The only band the label could get to go out with me was another Atlantic band. They pawned me off on a Goth band, Peter Murphy. So I toured acoustically--never with a band--for a Goth band. It was hilarious. I'm now sensitive to people who've had their fangs filed. But they bought the album, so that's good. If anything, I got to appreciate such diverse people: going on between punk bands in front of 20,000 people, between the Ramones and Everclear. It taught me to be diverse and never judge people, and to know that my crowd is anyone with a heart and has ears. It taught me to be very diverse. And it really paid off. Touring with Bob Dylan was a huge dream. Neil is incredible.
LAUNCH:
Who inspires you?
JEWEL:
There's certain people who have never lost the creative integrity of what they're doing. Neil [Young] is like that. It's very rare. The world has become very immediate. It's hard to stay in touch with one's creative drive. Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon. I find people like that very inspiring.
LAUNCH:
What's the coolest thing to ever happen to you in your career?
JEWEL:
The coolest thing ever? Singing with Bob Dylan. He invited me up onstage. I was blown away. I got to share a mic with him. I sang "I Shall Be Released." And just talking to him is hilarious, you know?
LAUNCH:
Yodeling is another factor that looms large in your legend. What's the story there? Are people always asking you to yodel for them?
JEWEL:
I've been doing it since I was six and it's always been a very big deal to people. I enjoy doing it but when I become a slave to it, it's frustrating and it shows. Like if I'm doing a love song and someone yells: "YODEL!!!" I find that annoying. But generally, I like to entertain a crowd and give them what they want.
LAUNCH:
Many artists disdain the interview process. Do you feel interviews adequately express your thoughts and feelings?
JEWEL:
I feel that it's possible, though not always executed to its highest. It's possible for interviews to round things out that I couldn't express on an album. Like the purpose behind why I do what I do. The thoughtfulness that you can't really articulate just in your songs. And I think that's important. I think it's a good tool.
LAUNCH:
Both of your parents are artists and performers in their own right. You mentioned touring barrooms with your dad as a child. Do you ever feel pressured by your folks to live out their dreams? Is it hard for you that you've become so successful and yet they haven't?
JEWEL:
I think that happens often in peoples' lives...a child living some dream you put on them vicariously. Fathers do it to their sons. Mothers are jealous of beautiful daughters. It's the same with fans living their dreams through a hero. As a kid, these women with Marlboros and voices straight from the bowling alley would come up to me and say, "I could have been an opera singer, but I married old Hank here and now I have to cook him hashed browns. So you have to do it for us." And as a little girl, I was really burdened by that because I realized how tragic peoples' lives were for not following their dreams. My dad always wanted to be a songwriter. He still does. I think he's proud. But my parents are human. There are jealousies; it's all human.
LAUNCH:
Are there musical forms you have yet to tap?
JEWEL:
There's a lot. Some jazz songs. I love writing country tunes. There's a lot I haven't even begun to explore yet. It will all come around I'm sure.
LAUNCH:
I've heard you like to surf. Can you describe for me one of your greatest surf memories?
JEWEL:
I like every wave, they're all really exciting to me. There's always your first wave...I was kind of stupid, actually, I didn't know enough to be afraid. I went down with some guys after one of my shows. They looked like surfers. We went down to Mexico. I'd never caught a wave before. It was a pretty big day, five foot overhead, rocky place, beautiful point. A big wave came, I caught it, made it, got inside, and looked at how big the waves were, got horrified, and I thought what am I doing? But it was a good rush.
LAUNCH:
Here's the obligatory tech question for you. How computer-literate are you?
JEWEL:
I'm not computer literate, I never have been. I was reading Charles Bukowski last night and he has a poem called "My First Computer Poem." And how old was he when he wrote it? 60? I feel like that's how I'll be. Maybe when I'm 60...I love the Internet because it takes out the middleman: the record label, radio station, record store. It's the fans who allow me to live my dream, they buy my albums. I find that very humbling. It keeps me going, even when I think the business is suffocating everything beautiful and pure. I have a large Internet fanclub, and I was recording in Woodstock, New York. Someone wrote in and asked: Would Jewel do this free concert for us if we all went out to Woodstock? So I put on this free show and 500 kids migrated out from everywhere, camped out. It was so great, they made T-shirts for themselves. All these kids who knew each other from the Internet got to meet for the first time. It was really great.
LAUNCH:
What's the last record you bought?
JEWEL:
I don't really listen to music. It was probably a Mozart cello concerto. I have friends who give me CDs that they think I can't live without. Like the Replacements. That's who I'm in love with now.
LAUNCH:
Do you have a favorite album, or an artist?
JEWEL:
I think the Replacements' Let It Be is one of the coolest records. K.D. Lang, Ella Fitzgerald--they're very cool.
LAUNCH:
It must be weird for you; so many people have bought Pieces Of You and probably think they know who Jewel is. How do you think people perceive of you?
JEWEL:
I don't know. I'm always portrayed in the media as a naive 24-year-old trying to impress adults. What can I say?
