Jewel's iCast
Hello!
2:22pm
Hello from Stephenville TX!
Well, the day is overcast, and the wind is chilly and building speed, but it feels so good to be home! I have been traveling a lot, trying to meet radio folks so they will play my new song, Stronger Woman. It's been fun actually - feels like my first album. I haven't worked this hard since my first album!
For those of you who may not know, I got off my old label Atlantic, and I'm on a tiny (5 employees!) label called The Valory Music Co. in Nashville, and I'm really excited. Atlantic and I had an amazing ride together - since the begining - and we fought together to get my songs heard, and it wasn't easy! But then they got bought and went public and got consolidated and it became so hard and so corporate that I was getting very disheartened. It was getting so hard to be a songwriter and a storyteller, and to keep the label fighting for music that wasn't an easy sell to radio. I was so glad when my contract came up, and I could get off. I knew what kind of record I was gonna make, (it has country leanings, stuff I've been playing live for years - like Perfectly Clear, and Rosey and Mick, and The Cowboy Waltz - which some of you who trade bootlegs may recognize - and some new ones that kinda don't have any real "genre" and arJ kinda just "Jewel" songs) and I went about making it on my own. I had the album done, and no label. I thought about putting it out direct online, but I don't really have a mailing list with your specific info to let you know! So, I though about skipping a label, and going diect to Wal-Mart, or Target, or Starbucks....but no one would hear a song on the radio that way, so I worried that it would make me alot of money (going direct is very lucrative) but that ultimalty very few folks would hear the record. Then i met Scott Borchetta, (he runs an idie label called Big Machine, and he broke Taylor Swift) and we fell in love - Musically of course!
We had the same passions and hopes for music, and he heard my album and didn't want to change it, or label it, or do anything, but he vowed to help me get it on the radio - country radio this time. Hey, "Who Will Save Your Soul" was "alternative", "You Were Meant For Me" was "pop" - why not let one go at "country"?) We are going to country radio because I feel it's the best chance I have to get my style of songwriting on the radio. I love lyrics, and stories, and sincerity and honsty - and it's gotten harder and harder on pop radio to get simple stuff on. Plus, fankly, I've been wanting to make my own type of country album my WHOLE career. I've been writing these songs since I was 16, and Atlantic wouldn't work anything country, so I've had to wait. As many of you know, I grew up in Alaska on a ranch, and I grew up on country music - so I'm a fan, and excited for you to hear my style! But I digress, where was I? Oh, my new label - Yes, Scott and I wanted to put an album out, but Big Machine's roster was full, so he started a brand new little label just for me - The Valory Music Co.! Of course other artists will be on there - I already have 2 label mates, Jimmy Wayne and Justin Moore. I have been traveling in rental cars going to 6 cities a day, singing at every radio station - just like I did on my first album!
Which brings me to you guys - I have always had the best community of fans. Community is the best word I know for the amazing atmosphere you guys create! Since the begining of my career, I have had such smart, cool fans that really support each other, and I have always enjoyed being in touch and watching you guys, but when I switched managment a lot of it got lost, and now I'm finding ways to find you guys again. I blog a lot on my myspace page, but my friend Justin told me about iLike and I had no idea you guys were here! So I wanted to say hi, and say I will be posting blogs and pics and journal entries from the road and random stuff regularlry here. So, I look forward to checking you all out. I will also post my radio promo tour, so you can see if I'm coming to a station near you. Also, you guys can call local country stations and request my new song "Stronger Woman." We gotta let them know fans want my music!
See u down the road! Xxjewel