Though they’re 3000 miles and millions of records apart, Jewel Kilcher’s lives in Alaska and Texas don’t feel all that different. Sure, her childhood homestead in Alaska had an outhouse, while her current Texan ranch has full plumbing. And she doesn’t make her own butter or grind her own flour anymore. But in either place, the view through Jewel’s window is always of rolling fields, always of the open space she craves – always of room to grow.
That’s exactly what she’s tried to do on her latest record, “Goodbye Alice in Wonderland.” Like most Jewel albums, it’s full of introspection, self-reflection and a little bit of loss. But it’s not a boy this time – she’s still happily with her rodeo beau, Ty Murray. Instead, Jewel’s saying farewell to the fairytale side of fame, the side of fame she maybe got caught up in a bit too much on her last album.
Called “0304,” the record was Jewel’s first foray into the world of pop. And with a slick video for the lead single, “Intuition,” it was the first time most of the world saw Jewel in a bikini; a lot of people weren’t quite ready for that from the sweet Alaskan folkie.
“I think the press just made a bigger to-do over it than anything,” Jewel told andPOP from her home in Stephenville, TX. “And I don’t think they listened to the record, honestly. I don’t even think they listened to the lyrics of ‘Intuition’ or really saw the video to see that it was a satire. My fans that have seen me tour a lot know I do everything from country music to rock music, so it didn’t really surprise my core fan-base.”
Luckily, though, her core fans are all that Jewel has to worry about. While most artists would be devastated by the kind of critical failure that “0304″ was for Jewel, the negative reactions barely registered on her radar. And they sure didn’t influence the making of her new album.
“I’m in a funny position, because my first record sold 11 million copies,” she says without a hint of egoism. “I went from being homeless to being rich over night, and I’ve never cared that much for fame. Ever since then, I’ve got to do exactly what I’ve felt like because I’ve never needed anything. So I’ve always been able to follow my muse and do what I feel like was authentic.”
But there was one thing that Jewel didn’t feel completely authentic about during the promo campaign for her last record. That single, “Intuition,” was used by Gillette in a major marketing campaign for their women’s Intuition razors.
“I didn’t own 100 per cent of my licensing on that song, and so there were factors involved that I didn’t have total control over,” explains Jewel. “I wasn’t real happy about it either, but everything I’ve done since I do have 100 per cent control over my licensing, so it can’t happen again.”
She did repeat one part of that ill-fated album, though. “Fragile Heart,” a song from “0304,” was rerecorded for “Goodbye Alice in Wonderland.” It’s an odd move, considering one record is full of danceable pop songs and the other sees Jewel returning to more familiar, country-tinged territory. She just loves the tune.
“I felt there were so many good tracks on ["0304"] that nobody listened to,” she says, almost sadly. “I thought ‘Fragile Heart’ is a stand-out. I thought it deserved a shot – it may still not be the third single, it may never get a shot, but I thought it deserves it.”
Another piece of creative output from Jewel that may never get a shot is her latest book, a collection of love poems written for Murray. It was completed years ago, but she says that after considering how her boyfriend’s mom might react to the book, she shelved it. And though she still writes frequently – “I don’t always save it, but I write all the time” – Jewel doesn’t have plans for another book.
As far as Jewel’s concerned, she’s also finished with acting. Back in 1999, she appeared in Ang Lee’s film, “Ride with the Devil.” And in 2003, she had a guest spot on an NBC legal drama called “The Lyon’s Den.” But after some soul-searching, she realized that acting just wasn’t a priority.
“I was working constantly on my singing career and writing, and then I would have three days off and I would go to auditions. I just started thinking, ‘What am I doing? I don’t want to be more famous, I don’t want to be more rich,’” she says. “And I miss acting – I find it really challenging and scary and exhilarating, but not so much that I wanted to turn 60 and realize, ‘Holy shit, I missed the point.’ So I really let it go.”
Now, fully back on track with a new album, Jewel’s found a balance in her life between simple country living and the starry-eyed world of musical fame. There’s still a bit of “Alice in Wonderland” lingering in Jewel – she is one of the music industry’s biggest rags-to-riches stories, after all – but it’s a much more grounded version of the fairytale.
“I have the best of both worlds,” she says of her life on the ranch in Texas. “Ty pretty much runs everything himself, so I get to enjoy the ranch and ride horses and write. But it’s kind of funny because we’ll be at home, riding horses through the cattle, and then the next day we’ll be on a plane and we’ll be at an Oscar party. It’s kind of a kick.”
