Jewel articles

[Little Bird]

New article about Nashville Star

From the remote tundra of her Alaskan youth to the triumph of international stardom, Jewel has traveled a singular road as an acclaimed singer, songwriter, poet, actress and painter.
The three-time Grammy nominee remains a unique and authentic artist, exploring fresh musical avenues for more than a decade that have taken her from the simplicity of acoustic-driven folk to the embrace of rock, pop, country, blues, jazz and classical influences.

To date, Jewel has sold over 25 million albums worldwide, enjoying career longevity rare among her generation of artists.

A native of Payson, Utah, and raised in Homer and Anchorage, Alaska, Jewel (born Jewel Kilcher) was the descendent of homesteaders: her mother's family old-guard Mormon, her father's side Swiss "futurists" who immigrated before World War II. Both of her parents, Atz and Nedra, enjoyed making local records and performing and, along with her brothers, Jewel accompanied her parents on tours through native villages. "At six I remember singing for Eskimos and Aleuts in remote places, taking dog sled rides through frozen tundra," she says.

At 15, she went her own way, performing solo for the first time and earning a vocal scholarship to Interlochen, a private arts school in Michigan, where she also majored in visual art. It was here she learned guitar and began writing songs, inspired by a love of reading at a young age.

Heartfelt songwriting became not only an emotional outlet, but a means of survival. During Spring Break one year she took a train and hitchhiked in Mexico, earning money as a street-corner minstrel.

"I made up lyrics everywhere I went and eventually it turned into a very long song about what I saw around me," she recalls. "I made it back to school two weeks later with an unformed song called 'Who Will Save Your Soul.'"

She was sixteen at the time and had no idea that that song would, a mere three years later, become the first single from her first album, offering not just a day's meal ticket, but meteoric success.

Jewel's personal odyssey, partly chronicled on her twelve-times RIAA platinum debut album, Pieces of You, comes to full flower in her new release, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (Atlantic), released on May 2.

Accelerating into third gear, Jewel makes the most of her lyrical skills and malleable voice on Alice. Alice is her most autobiographical work in more than a decade, tracing her path from the extreme solitude of Alaska to the extreme joys and pitfalls of fame. Its title also alludes to other fantasies: the fairy tales we are told in youth about life, love and friendship versus the more complex, and often disheartening, truth.

LINK

[ItBeThatWay27]

Wow, what a great article. Thanks for posting Kiera. Reading that makes me wonder are their any rare recordings of her parents or of her at a young age floating around anywhere? Surely some local Alaskan so-and-so has recordings of them somewhere and put them on the net or somewhere to be heard, wouldn't you think?

[last_dance_rodeo]

I would think. THat would be great to hear.

[R*Philippines]

It's not really a big news but mentioning her name in one of the leading newspapers in the Philippines, as a Jewel fan, well what wouldn you expect?
CLICK: Manila Standard Today-Philippines

[Little Bird]

Short article and slightly inaccurate towards the end..
Link

Not everyone can walk into Nashville and become a star, but singer-songwriter Jewel seems to be pulling it off. Jewel will succeed country's Wynonna Judd as host of the upcoming season of the USA Network's "Nashville Star."

"People in Nashville are very proud and very protective of their culture, and they don't want people coming in and capitalizing on their culture and I respect that," Jewel says.

"The town is still pretty insular but I've always been involved with Nashville. My first record ("Pieces of You") was mixed and mastered by Gene Eichelberger, who's real old-school (Nashville).


"I've always been real comfortable in Nashville, where they respect hard work."

Jewel's turn on "Nashville Star," which begins Thursday, will include mentoring sessions with the Nashville Star wannabes.

"I'm not real outgoing and I don't have a cheerleading type of personality," Jewel said. "On other shows when you're a judge, you get 15 seconds to tell the kids how they were, and they're left (thinking) 'You've got to give me more.'

"Here, I'm going to help them get some knowledge that they normally wouldn't have."

Jewel's been in the music game for 11 years now, so she has a little bit of knowledge to share. Born Jewel Kilcher, she was raised on a homestead in Homer, Alaska, and her father taught her how to yodel for the family's folk act when she was 6. Later, Jewel found herself living out of her van and singing in San Diego coffeehouses. She lives with boyfriend and ex-rodeo star Ty Murray in Texas.

Jewel's debut album, 1995's folkie "Pieces of You," became a sleeper hit in the midst of the grunge era, producing the singles "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "You Were Meant for Me."

Jewel's most recent album, this spring's "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland," is probably going to be her last for Atlantic. Jewel would like to broaden her sound and do an entire album of, you guessed it, country.

[Little Bird]

Short interview with Jewel about 'Nashville Star' from CanMag.com

American Idol gets all the attention but other music industries are welcoming a public talent search too. For country, it's Nashville Star, beginning its fifth season January 11. Jewel hosts the latest rounds of auditions and eliminations.

Interview: Jewel On Nashville Star
"What's nice is reality TV shows have come such a far way and what I think is great about Nashville Star is it's legitimate," she said. "I think the focus of Nashville Star is they're giving a showcase to legitimate artists and not many people are given any form for that."

Jewel remembers what it's like to struggle as an artist and hopes for the chance to mentor this latest crop of talent. "I think something Nashville Star does a really strong job at is all these musicians here, these next contestants, they all play at least one instrument. Most of them play three instruments and they all also are writers so these aren't just people singing that are great singers. They actually have a whole package which is unusual. I think that's one of the hardest things to promote and when you're that kind of artist to come up through, because people are looking for something kind of poppier and showier."

[ItBeThatWay27]

I found this article about Atlantic's release of Arthur & the Invisibles:

http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release...ease_id=188899

Atlantic Unveils "ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK" Album Slated for January Release


NEW YORK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- November 28, 2006 -- Atlantic Records has announced the forthcoming release of "ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK," the companion soundtrack album to the upcoming MGM release of a Weinstein Company presentation. Due in stores on January 9, 2007, the soundtrack album features new tracks by Jewel, Snoop Dogg and Elijah as well as the Original Motion Picture Score. The film is set for wide release in the U.S. on January 12, 2007.

The first single from "ARTHUR AND THE INVISIBLES: ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK" will be Jewel's "Quest for Love." The album also features Snoop Dogg's "Go Girl" and Elijah's "It's A Beautiful Day."

From the creative mind of talented filmmaker Luc Besson ("La Femme Nikita," "The Fifth Element") comes a larger-than-life, family adventure about a boy who, after his grandfather disappears, sets out to save his family home from emerging real estate developers. Arthur learns that he must follow his grandfather's ancient clues to a vast treasure -- and unlock the passageway to a spectacular new world filled with mysterious little people, so tiny they are considered invisible, and enlist their help. But once in the magical land, Arthur must join swords with a beautiful princess and a reckless army of defenders to save the land from the evil wizard. It seems like an impossible task, but as he discovers along the way, sometimes the smallest heroes can make the biggest difference.

Using a dazzling new combination of live action and groundbreaking CGI technology, "Arthur And The Invisibles" is a story about the true meaning of courage and the endless power of imagination. The film stars Mia Farrow and Freddie Highmore, featuring the voices of Madonna, David Bowie, and Snoop Dogg. "Arthur And The Invisibles" was written and directed by Luc Besson and is based on the best-selling children's book, "Arthur and the Minimoys." The film will be released nationwide on January 12, 2007.

[Little Bird]

Another Interview about Nashville Star from Readingeagle.com

Nashville Star' lands a Jewel of a co-host for fifth season

Jay Bobbin
Zap2it

She had her struggles on the path to musical fame, so Jewel is glad to help launch someone else's career.

Just who that someone is remains to be seen and heard, since first, he or she must get all the way through the fifth season of ``Nashville Star.'' Jewel (last name: Kilcher) becomes the host alongside returning co-host Cowboy Troy in a new round of USA Network's talent competition starting Thursday, Jan. 11. The panel of judges includes country music stars Randy Owen (of the group Alabama) and Blake Shelton, and industry executive Anastasia Brown.

As with Fox's ``American Idol,'' top-selling talents have gotten their starts on ``Nashville Star,'' notably Miranda Lambert -- recently a Country Music Association Awards nominee -- and Buddy Jewell. Though her songs from ``Who Will Save Your Soul?'' and ``You Were Meant for Me'' to ``Standing Still'' and ``Intuition'' have crossed several genres, Jewel appreciates Nashville as a music center, having written and recorded many of her lyrics there.

``I grew up on country music,'' she reflects. ``I was raised on a ranch in Alaska, and my father is a cowboy. My favorite memories are of driving the cattle every spring and bringing them home in the fall. We'd camp out under the stars, and my dad would play me his songs. That really had a big influence on me as a kid.

``The music I continue to write is really a classic, old-school kind of country. I've had a million producers try to take that out so they could bring the music to pop radio, but I really view it as the last great American storytelling genre that's healthy. And I look at my job as trying to tell a story.''

Having a weekly commitment to ``Nashville Star'' is ``actually an attraction for me,'' maintains Jewel, who completed her latest concert tour last month. ``I get to have a steady gig where I can be at home. I live in Texas, so I can fly in on Wednesday, fly out on Thursday night and be home for the rest of the week. For me, that's pretty novel, so I'm excited about it. I've always tried to make it a priority not to work so much that I can't enjoy what life I'm having.''

Jewel warmed up for her ``Nashville Star'' stint by playing guest judge in ``American Idol'' auditions for that show's sixth season, which debuts Jan. 16 on Fox. ``I think the entire music industry is in flux,'' she reasons. ``Record labels aren't quite sure what the solution is to downloading, to the change in record sales, and I think shows like these have really stepped in to show how to groom and break talent in a way that labels aren't accustomed to anymore.

``What really got me interested in `Nashville Star' was its strong focus on songwriters,'' Jewel adds. ``Originally, I was looking at being a judge on it, then I realized the judge only gets about 15 seconds to help the artist. I looked for a way to have as much time with them as I could. I'm not only hosting but mentoring, so I'll get to be with each contestant and actually talk to them about performing.

``These are people who work at places like post offices, so they don't have all the background you wish you had by the time you get on national television and are being judged for your life. I hope to help them be as good as they can be.''

Proving she isn't just giving lip service to the changes in her business, Jewel is marketing her latest music on her own, without being on a major label.

``I really believe in the craft,'' she says, ``and I've tried to lead my career in a way that hopefully would never capitalize on a short-term gain. I'd like to still be doing this when I'm 68 and, most importantly, to still be writing well.

``Growing up, my favorite writers were novelists who didn't do their best work until they were in their 40s and 50s, maybe even their 60s. It's the opposite with songwriters; they write great when they're young, then stop being poignant in their 30s and 40s for some reason. It's something I've been very wary of.''

Still, Jewel deems her present activity ``a good stage for me, because I don't have to have that pressure of getting radio hits and making money for a label. While I'm not sure what the next outlet for my kind of music is, because radio really is still the best forum, I do think there's an audience out there for it. We'll see how it goes.''

To keep up her visibility, Jewel has guest-starred on such series as ``Las Vegas'' and ``7th Heaven'' this season. ``When I was starting out, I pretty aggressively went after movie roles, and I was lucky enough to get an Ang Lee film (`Ride With the Devil'). I really liked doing it, but my problem is that to break my records, I've always had to tour ridiculously hard. I had very little free time, so I started to look at the quality of my life.``

From that, Jewel determined ``a lot of celebrities have spent so much time trying to stay at the top, they didn't always find love. I just made a decision that if an acting job comes up, I'll do it, but I stopped going after it.''

More offers could come Jewel's way through her presence on ``Nashville Star,'' for which she anticipates ``a good season. What makes me a believer in the show is that they are looking for real talent, and that's attractive. There are so few outlets for true artists to get seen nowadays, it's really nice to have at least one show that values that.''

[Little Bird]

This next article has an interesting comment towards the bottom. It's actually like an edited version of the one I posted in post #35 of this thread but with a couple of extra comments that weren't mentioned in that article. Children's Lullaby record? Anyone heard that one before now?

JEWEL DELVES INTO COUNTRY
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/7/07
BY CHRIS JORDAN
GANNETT NEW JERSEY

Not everyone can walk into Nashville, Tenn., and become a star, but singer/songwriter Jewel seems to be pulling it off. Jewel will succeed country's Wynonna Judd as host of the upcoming season of the USA Network's "Nashville Star."

"People in Nashville are very proud and very protective of their culture, and they don't want people coming in and capitalizing on their culture, and I respect that," Jewel says.

"The town is still pretty insular, but I've always been involved with Nashville. My first record ("Pieces of You") was mixed and mastered by Gene Eichelberger, who's real old-school (Nashville)."

Jewel's turn on "Nashville Star," which begins Thursday, will include mentoring sessions with the Nashville Star wannabes.

Jewel's most recent album, "Goodbye Alice in Wonderland," is probably going to be her last for Atlantic. She would like to broaden her sound and do an entire album of, you guessed it, country.

"I'd like to make a country record and a couple of others where you don't really have the big record sales, like a children's lullaby record and a Cole Porter-style jazz record," she says.

[DreamsLast]

I've only heard in articles where she mentions 3 types of records; country, lullabies, and Cole-Porter style....but it didn't really say "children's " lullabies per se. Although I'd love to be a kid and have Jewel sing "Angel Standing By" to me every night!!!! Her future children will be very lucky!

[fabiojj]

She did say children's lullabies before...

[DreamsLast]

I found this article tonight. This is the first time I've seen where she's mentioned getting a 1 record country label contract to see what happens...

Source:
http://www.portfolioweekly.com/Pages...e.php/iID/2217

Beyond the Music
Jewel opens up about inspiration, genre-shifting and Lit. 301

By Jerome Spencer
Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2006

Her debut album is certified 12 times platinum, her book of poetry was a New York Times bestseller and she’s one of the most revered singer-songwriters of our time. Jewel could be doing anything she wants to right now. And what she wants to be doing is embarking on a 16-city acoustic tour, which happens to make a stop in Hampton Roads. I had a chance to talk with Jewel about her new record, new artistic freedom and new aspirations:


What was the inspiration behind the title, Goodbye Alice In Wonderland?

A larger theme of the record is about growing up and coming of age. Which doesn’t have anything to do with a certain age, but an attitude. How do you grow up in the world and understand the difference between dreaming and pretending? And the difference between lying to yourself and having hope?


Sort of like finding the truth in fairytales?

Yeah. I think a lot of us have such an escapist attitude. We want to believe in these fairytales. And what happens when you see the real world? You’re disappointed and disillusioned. So how can you be in love with everyday life? You find romance and poetry in reality.

The new record incorporates elements from all of your diverse albums while maintaining a strong personal narrative. Was that the intention when you began the writing process?

I wanted this record to loosely tell the story of my life. It’s not like if you look at the record you’ll go, "Oh, this is a biography in chronological order of her life." But for me, I can tell. I talk about going from living on a ranch in Alaska to being homeless, to being discovered, to living on a ranch again, this time in Texas. So there is a strong narrative because it is my life. I’ve also been really diverse- I have rock and roll moods, folk moods and country moods. It’s all just me, sincerely. So I wanted to try to get all of that on the record.


You’re slated to host next season’s Nashville Star. Are there any plans to make a country album yourself?

Yeah, I’ve been wanting to since I was about 12-years-old, but my label was always pretty horrified about me doing it. This is the end of my record contract on Atlantic and I think my next move is going to be to make a country record. It won’t be a huge departure. Most of my songs have always had a country leaning.


Now that you’re finished with Atlantic, are there any plans from here?

I think the industry’s changing so much that I’d like to see where it all settles. If I do a country record I’ll do a one-off deal with a country label and go from there. There’s a couple kinds of records I want to make and I’ll just pick each as they come.


What other genres are you looking to do?

One’s the country. The second is a record of lullabies that I write, and the third would be Cole Porter-style songs.


You’ve also been dabbling in acting. Is that something you would consider as a career?

At the beginning of my career it was a strong goal. I made an Ang Lee movie called Ride With the Devil. But I started to see what it would take to have two separate careers and I started to look at people in the industry. You turn 60 and you’ve spent your whole life on a career and not becoming a happy person. I decided to let acting go. I do act when things come up, but I don’t fight for it or go out on auditions. I love it though. When it comes up I really enjoy doing it.


Lyrically, you’re poignant and personal, finding the dramatic meaning in small things. Growing up, who or what inspired your writing style?

I grew up reading a lot. Nabokov and Pablo Neruda- I think those two writers really affected my writing- where I wanted to use color and smell, what a person’s doing with their hands. Those things that give away the mood and what’s really going on at the heart of a scene. It’s really a lot of little details-oriented things and it always fascinated and moved me and caused me to use it in a lot of my songwriting.


I pick up on a lot of Bukowski imagery, the way you use a small detail to portray an emotional tone...

I love Bukowski and Anais Ninn. I love well-crafted writers and I love writers also that write in simple, plain language. I think that’s really important, that’s what people relate to. And if you can find nostalgia and poetry in everyday occurrences then people can go into their own lives and discover that same nostalgia and poetry.


What led to the decision to do a second tour for this record?

With every record, I’ve always done a band tour and an acoustic solo tour. I love doing solo because there’s no set-list. The crowds are really cool with just letting me be me and it’s kept me interested in what I’m doing. It let’s me just be who I am every night as that changes.


I’m pretty impressed with how personal you are up there...

I’m really shy one on one, but on stage I guess I’ve just been doing it so long that I’m real comfortable up there. I enjoy myself and I enjoy playing off of the crowd. When I come through solo it’s sort of like being in my living room. •

[Little Bird]

The thing I've noticed about Jewel is, she says a lot but it doesn't always pan out like that. She's very creative and full of ideas and great intentions but often what she shares about 'maybes' they often don't materialise for whatever reason.

[ItBeThatWay27]

that's exactly how I am. My ideas don't always get off the floor, but maybe something else equally good happens

[Little Bird]

Jewel to Sparkle as Host of 'Star' Search

From New York Daily News

Singer-songwriter Jewel makes her debut as the host of USA Network's "Nashville Star" Thursday night, but it's not her first brush with the reality format.
Indeed, Jewel said years ago there was a discussion about her becoming part of MTV's "The Real World," a reality show in which seven strangers live together before the cameras.

"'The Real World' was just starting when I was coming up and they asked me to be on that," the singer said, "and I didn't want to be known as the girl from 'The Real World.'"

Exactly when Jewel might have been considered for the show is up for debate.

A spokesman for show producers Bunim-Murray Productions said they could not confirm that Jewel was close to being cast on any of the first seasons of "Real World. Considering her age, the spokesman said, it might have been for seasons two through eight.

"I want to say, it was 'The Real World's' first year, and I bet I was 18 or 19," Jewel said. "They were putting word out to the industry. My label was looking for a way to break a folk artist."

It also didn't hurt that her back story included living in a car.

"They brought it to me," she said of her record label. "I wanted to be known [for] my music, and not that girl kind of thing."

Interestingly, the cast of the first season of the "Real World" (1992) did include Rebecca Blasband, a budding folk singer.

These days, Jewel is focusing on "Nashville Star," and helping to introduce new country singers on the fifth season of the USA Network's talent show.

She co-hosts the show with Cowboy Troy, who is back for his second season.

The series is often compared to "American Idol," which gets underway next week, but the two are different in several ways. "Nashville Star," for instance, starts with the 10 finalists already in place, while "AI" starts off with an audition phase.

"The show was created before 'Idol' ever made it to air," said "Nashville Star" executive producer Ben Silverman. "We made a show where talent was first, where the quality was real."

Nevertheless, perhaps because of the music genre or the late time period - the show airs at 10 p.m., cutting down the potential for family viewing - "Nashville Star" has never garnered the kind of viewer interest or water-cooler buzz "Idol" has.

"I absolutely would love more attention," Silverman said. "When people discover the show, they get more excited about it."

And, like "Idol," "Nashville Star" has launched the careers of several top country acts, such as Miranda Lambert and Buddy Jewell.

As part of her hosting gig, Jewel will serve as a mentor to the contestants. She plans at some point during the show's run to have them visit her Texas ranch.

"I was really amazed when I watched people perform and read their bios," Jewel said of the new crop of contestants. "It's a pretty competitive field ... they're pretty stage savvy."