Say this much for Jewel: She doesn't just stick to the sound that made her rich. In the 15 years since her breakout debut she's dabbled in dance music, Christmas tunes, spoken word and lullabies. With her latest,
Sweet and Wild(Valory), Jewel returns to the country-pop well for a second time, following 2008's Perfectly Clear. Call her an opportunist, but with a rodeo-cowboy husband and a Texas ranch, she's living the life she sings about — and it's much more sweet than wild. Tracks like "Stay Here Forever" and "Satisfied" reveal a woman who's got what she wants and is grateful for it — if a bit insecure and unsure about whether it'll last.
That seems like a natural enough progression from the 20-year-old who gave us the insecure, unsure and occasionally brave Pieces of You in 1995. It was a phenomenally successful debut from a previously unknown singer-songwriter, selling upward of 7 million copies on the strength of three ubiquitous singles and the quirky bio of its creator, who — all together now — grew up poor in Alaska, yodeled in bars with her dad, and lived in a VW van.
If you take her lyrics at face value — and there's really no other way to take them — Jewel must've faced some extraordinarily hostile coffeehouse crowds when she was starting out. She's on her own for most of Pieces of You, strumming her acoustic guitar while singing overly earnest rhymes about rebellion ("Daddy"), criticism ("I'm Sensitive") and prejudice ("Pieces of You").
But she enlisted some interesting guests for the only songs that matter. "Who Will Save Your Soul" and "You Were Meant for Me" feature three of Neil Young's sidemen, including legendary Muscle Shoals organist Spooner Oldham; Charlotte Caffey of the Go-Go's plays piano on "Foolish Games." And yet, curiously, it's not a matter of the pros making the amateur look good. Those songs, credited to Ms. Kilcher herself, are solid, specific and a hell of a lot more memorable than the treacle she's co-writing these days. Call her voice cloying or overwrought, but it is her own.
Fri., July 30, 7:30 p.m., $32, with The Morning Benders, Great Plaza at Penn's Landing, Columbus Boulevard and Chestnut Street, delawareriverwaterfrontcorp.com.
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