Jewel and Some Local Gems

June 21, 2002

Folksinger Jewel is looking for a few diamonds in the rough.

Her current tour - which was nearly postponed after she suffered injuries in
a horse- riding accident - won't be a showcase just for songs from her
current album, "This Way" (Atlantic), but also for her latest venture, Soul
City Cafe. It's a kind of "Star Search" project she created to help cultivate
and promote new talent, and some of the uncut gems she's found will open the
show when her tour hits Jones Beach on Saturday.

"I wanted to create a platform that supported stuff that isn't necessarily
mainstream, nor necessarily ready to bear fruit in the next year," Jewel
said. "So I've found a lot of local artists that have good buzzes, good local
followings, and I'm taking them on the road."

With the Soul City Cafe support network Jewel hopes to serve a need that's
been plaguing the music industry lately.

"I'm one of the last artists that kind of snuck in with the idea of
development in mind," she said. But just as Jewel is settling in to her new
role as mentor, major record labels are continuing to abandon the idea of
artist development.

"And that is really killing longevity," she said. "If you're a farmer, you
don't do things that are just in a six- month bearing. You stagger it. Some
will come to fruit in three years; some in two years; some, one; some in 10
years."

Her attitude is also the direct result of advice she received from Bob Dylan
and Neil Young, who both told her not to base her career on hit records.
Despite their incredible songbooks, both Young and Dylan have released a few
albums that were clunkers, a fact not lost on Jewel.

"I think that's something that usually the press and the industry don't
understand. They look for something that's constant, but art is organic;
you're looking at an organic crop and everything is going to have a fallow
season," she said.

"Getting that kind of advice from Neil Young or Bob Dylan - it shapes your
career. Even when I was courted by labels, when I was 18 years old, I talked
to them about wanting to do my 20th and 30th record. Taking a year off, for
me, was just about trying to get back to being able to write well, instead of
continuing something to milk a hit or milking an image."

Jewel was forced to take some unscheduled time off back in April when she
suffered a broken collarbone and rib after she was tossed from a horse at the
Texas ranch of her boyfriend, rodeo champ Ty Murray.

Though she recovered enough to begin the North American leg of her tour on
time last week, her still-healing injuries have limited her guitar playing.
For now, Jewel will be able to pick a couple of songs on the guitar until her
strumming arm gets stronger.

But for Jewel, live performances aren't about her guitar playing.

"It's a very particular time in American history, world history, and I get to
be out talking with the people," she said. "I wouldn't trade that for
anything."

WHERE&WHEN Jewel, 8 p.m. Saturday. Soul City Cafe featuring M2M, Scooter
Scudieri and Shade at 5 p.m. Tommy Hilfiger at Jones Beach Theater, Ocean
Parkway, Wantagh. $27.50-$44.50. Call Ticketmaster at 631-888-9000. For more
information on Soul City Cafe, go to www.soulcitycafe.com