Jewel’s Nashville Show Brings World Relief

Jewel is playing two benefit shows tonight for Project Clean Water, a charity she founded more than a decade ago, but her mind is on her upcoming concert tour and new album.

Jewel's Star Light Café acoustic tour starts June 1 at the Fargo (N.D.) Theatre. "I'm touring with Radney Foster; I can't believe he's coming on the road with me," she tells The Boot.

Her stripped-down charity shows April 28 at Nashville's Bluebird Café will serve as a preview for her tour's format, while doing good at the same time. "I founded Project Clean Water in 1997," she says. "We've put up 35 wells in 15 countries, so the money from these shows all goes to that."

The Star Light Café tour is in support of Jewel's second country album, 'Sweet and Wild,' out June 8. Technology played a starring role in the recording of the set. Jewel cut her vocals and guitar at the Texas ranch she shares with husband, rodeo star Ty Murray. She then bought the tracks up to Nashville and she and producer Nathan Chapman recorded the bass and drums. "Then we built it out virtually," she says. "I went back home and Nathan would play guitar and sent [the tracks] to me and I'd send them to a friend in L.A. He played piano and sent it back."