Muzik Mafia events. She co-wrote and sings with new artist Jason Michael Carroll on "No Good In Goodbye" which appears on his debut album, Waitin' In The Country (Arista Nashville). She was also invited to sing with Merle Haggard, a long time hero of hers, on his album of No. 1s. In addition, she was a presenter on the Country Music Association Awards show with Ty Murray on November 7, 2007.

"If I were discovered today, there is no doubt that I would be signed as a country artist. Songs like "You Were Meant For Me" would have been a country hit today, and not a pop hit as it was in the 90s. The genres have changed more than I feel I have," says Jewel.

Sitting around a campfire on her ranch in Alaska, as a young girl, Jewel was first exposed to songwriting by her father and it has carried with her throughout her career. "I'm first and foremost a songwriter. I've been writing music since I was young- I got it from my dad. He was a cowboy and a songwriter. That to me is what country music is all about- telling a story that's honest and true- that reveals something of yourself. I'm thrilled to be in front of an audience that prizes storytelling above all other things."

Jewel currently lives on a working ranch in Stephenville, Texas with World Champion bull-riding superstar, Ty Murray.

History
Her family were original pioneers of Alaska who settled there when it was still a territory. Her grandfather, Yule, drafted the Alaskan constitution and served as the state's senator. She was raised on the family ranch with the same old world traditions. Her home was located in a very remote area, far from any town, and had no running water or electricity (they used a coal stove for heat and had an outhouse).

Both of her parents, Atz and Nedra, enjoyed making local records and performing; and, along with her brothers, Jewel (her given name) 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. "We canned berries and made our own butter- ate only what we raised and stored."

When her parents divorced, she spent more than a half-dozen years with her father touring as a duet act, starting at the age of eight. "We sang in biker bars and lumberjack joints. If the cops were ever called, I'd hide in the bathroom till they were gone," she says. At fifteen, 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. "Reading made me feel connected to the world," she explains. "The writers I returned to again and again were the ones that were brutally honest, willing to show themselves as heroic at times, grotesque at others. Anais Nin, Charles Bukowski, these were heroes to me."

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 16 at the time and had no idea 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.

Moving to San Diego, a series of unfortunate events led to living in her car and, after it was stolen, borrowing $1,000 from a friend to buy a van to live in. She got her first regular gig at a coffeehouse in Pacific Beach, where fans soon multiplied like rabbits, building a local cult following. Label A&R guys started coming as well, and Jewel was signed to Atlantic Records close to her 19th birthday. Her first record, a deeply introspective, live, voice-and-acoustic-guitar, modern folk collection called Pieces of You, sold about 3000 copies, nearly all in San Diego, in the nine months after its February 1995 debut. So, Jewel hit the road with a vengeance, playing four shows a day in 40 cities. A folk singer at the height of grunge, she was encouraged by two acts she opened for: Bob Dylan, who actively listened to her songs and discussed lyrics with her, and Neil Young, who gave the nervous solo artist a piece of advice at Madison Square Garden: "Its just another hash-house on the road to success. Show 'em no respect!"