Stories About Jewel That Will Totally Make Your Day

By Ethan Millard on December 14, 2017

The Musicians Studio podcast is sponsored by Musician’s Toolkit.  With Musician’s Toolkit, your whole family can get a great music education from world-class musicians.  The courses are customized, online, and totally affordable.

Jewel is an internationally renowned artist with a unique background.  No other performer can claim her adventurous family and upbringing.  Here are a few details about her background that will totally inspire you.

Her Family Are Serious Adventurers

Her grandfather, Yule Kilcher, was an amazing person and a true adventurer and modern pioneer.

Kilcher immigrated from Switzerland to Alaska of all places.  After finding a homestead near Homer in 1936, he set off across the famed Harding Icefield, alone.  The ice field is over one thousand square miles.

This first attempt failed, but it did put him in the history books.  In 1968, Yule made history again with the first ascent of Truuli Peak.  After the ascent, the expedition team then crossed the Harding Icefield and skied down Exit Glacier.

Yule also helped write the Alaska State Constitution and served in the Alaska Senate.

We don’t know whether or not Jewel got her amazing musical ability from her grandfather, but she certainly inherited his adventurous side.

Jewel Has NO Fear

Jewel spent much of her childhood on the family homestead near Homer.  At the time, the home still had no telephone, television, or even indoor plumbing.  They had an outhouse.  In Alaska!  On her website, Jewel describes it in this way:

No running water, no heat- we had a coal stove and an outhouse and we mainly lived off of what we could kill or can. We picked berries and made jam. We caught fish to freeze and had gardens and cattle to live on. I rode horses every day in the summer beneath the Alaskan midnight sun. I loved it there.

Jewel seems to have a total lack of fear.  By 15 she took singing gigs that would have intimidated other young artists.  One story she tells is a gig at a biker bar.  At one point the cops showed up and some nice women ushered her into the bathroom and helped her hide.

Hear Her Talk About Performing With Her Family

Listen to Jewel’s appearance on The Musicians Studio, sponsored by Musicians Toolkit.  She talks about how much she values her family.  So much so she even included them on her most recent tour.

Jewel also shares some advice for young musicians.