Jewel Kilcher

was born May 23-74

She was raised on an 800-acre homestead in Homer, Alaska. Since the age of five she has been performing,
starting out with her parents doing numbers for tourists, in Eskimo villages, etc. Her junior and senior years
of high school were spent at Interlochen Fine Arts Academy in Michigan. This is an expensive private school,
and 70% of Jewel's tuition was paid for by a vocal scholarship. She thought she'd be going to sing the blues,
but they had her sing opera instead. The remainder of the expenses were raised at what turned out to be Jewel's
first solo concert. The citizens of Homer were supportive enough to cover the rest of the first year tuition, and
summer jobs filled the gap the next year. After high school, Jewel came to San Diego to stay with her mom. After
a brief sojourn to Colorado, she returned to San Diego, which she now calls home. She worked a variety of jobs
including waitressing, but generally lost them when her interest in chatting with the customers surpassed her desire
to do the actual job. Eventually she decided that working unfulfilling dead-end jobs was an unbearable way to live.
She moved into her VW van, and with lots of peanut butter, carrot sticks, and a guitar, settled down to write songs.
She soon started performing to sparse crowds at a coffee house in Pacific Beach called the Inner Change. (This
was probably early 1993 by now.) Word started to spread, and soon she had a regular Thursday night spot and
an ever growing audience. Her name began to show up in the local press and she nabbed a few choice opening
spots. She took an extended trip back to Homer at the end of the year, and things really took off when she returned
in early 1994. At the start of the year, the coffeehouse was roughly 60% full, and a mere $3 got you a 3-4 hour set
of original material, with the only exception being an occasional cover of Tracy Chapman's "Behind the Wall".
Always a prolific, versatile songwriter, Jewel regularly debuted a handful of new songs at each show. These shows
were a hotbed of local acoustic talent, and Jewel was regularly joined by frequent collaborator Steve Poltz (lead
singer of the Rugburns). Fellow Rugburns Rob Driscoll and Gregory Page also joined them, as well as other local
musicians including Joy Eden Harrison and Byron Nash. Everyone who saw her must have told five friends, since
each week the crowd continued to grow. Soon, people were being turned away, while a few hardy souls could be
seen staring through the large windows at the packed house inside. Around this time, the news of the young (19!)
singer had gotten to L.A., and record executives started driving down to sleepy San Diego to catch the shows.
They immediately recognized the quality of what they were seeing, and soon the limos were directed towards
Jewel's van/home. After a brief courtship, she was signed to Atlantic Records, and started making the trek up to
L.A. looking for producers and musicians to record with. The advance on the record enabled Jewel to rent a house
with her mother, a new car (a used Volvo) and a new guitar (a steal due to an imperfection in the finish). All this
added exposure continued to draw crowds to the Inner Change, which first added a second show, and then upped
the admission price to $5. By this time, Jewel had written over a hundred songs. On July 28 and 29, 1994, a sound
crew descended on the Inner Change to record 4 sets of Jewel on her home stomping grounds. All the live recordings
on Pieces of You come from those two sessions. (Notably absent is a brilliant bongo accompanied version of
Sometimes It Be That Way. Maybe someone can steal that tape from Atlantic's archives?) By this time, Jewel had
outgrown the tiny Inner Change and began looking for larger venues to play in. She ended up doing two shows at the
Wikiup Cafe in Hillcrest. A whirlwind of activity followed in preperation for the release of Jewel's first album. This
included a series of residency tours where she would play four different coffee shops in four different cities for four
weeks, building up a fan base much like she did in San Diego. Jewel's first album, Pieces of You, was released Feb.
28, 1995. A CD Release Party was held at the Hahn Cosmopolitan Theater in her adopted hometown of San Diego.
It consisted of two sold out performances.

Saint Doug: 91X Alternative Sample

Jewel's first officially released recording--acoustic version of Angel Needs a Ride released on a San Diego radio station's sampler with other local bands. This disc has no release date on it, but it came out in conjunction with, and shortly after, the 1994 May Day Festival. Jewel is already credited as being on Atlantic here. Also contains a track from the Rugburns first album. It's very much on the harder edge side, with Jewel, the Rugburns and Gregory Page being the only accoustic entries.

Pieces of You (1994, Atlantic Records)

Debut Atlantic recording consisting of studio recordings and live recordings recorded at the Inner Change in San Diego.

Who Will Save Your Soul
Pieces Of You
Little Sister
Foolish Games
Near You Always
Painters
Morning Song
Adrian
I'm Sensitive
You Were Meant For Me
Don't
Daddy
Angel Standing By
Amen

Save the Linoleum (promo disc)

A promotional release from Atlantic featuring:

God's Gift To Women
Intro
I'm Senstive (Live Version)
Who Will Save Your Soul (LP Version)
Race Car Driver
Flower
I'm Sensitive (LP Version)

Shiva Diva Doo Wop ("official" bootleg)

An "official" bootleg recording Jewel distributed herself prior to her album being released. The cover is an excellent sketch by Jewel. Available on cassette only. Only a limited number of these were made, are are most likely no longer available.

1,000 Miles Away
She Cries
Painters
My Own Private God's Gift to Women

Who Will Save Your Soul (radio promo)

A radio promo with two album tracks:

Who Will Save Your Soul
I'm Sensitive

Who Will Save Your Soul w/ Interview

A radio promo with two tracks:
Who Will Save Your Soul
Interview with Mike Halloran of 91X

 You Were Meant For Me (promo disc)

A promotional release from Atlantic featuring:

You Were Meant For Me
Cold Song
Rocker Girl
Emily

You Were Meant For Me (radio promo)

Another promotional release from Atlantic featuring:

You Were Meant for Me (new version)

Spew+

Atlantic 82844-2
Spew+ is an enhanced cd (they call it a "digizine"). It'll run on MacOS or Windows or you can just play the music in your cd player. It has videos for each track along with samples of other songs by the artists and various pictures, biographical info and other stuff.

Can't Wait One Minute More-Civ
Smashing Young Man-Collective Soul
I'm Sensitive - Jewel
Send Away - Dragmules
Groovy Dead - Rusty
Any Sense Of Time - The Inbreds
Rhyme Stealer - Sugar Ray
Good Person Inside - Jill Sobule
1944 Stomp - James Carter