Jewel bringing greatest hits to Smith Center

It’s been a long time coming.

Jewel’s record label has been pestering her to do a “greatest hits” tour since she was 25 — just four years after her best-selling 1995 debut, “Pieces of You.”

But “I wanted to wait a few years and build up a body of work,” she says.

Now, at 39 — she celebrated her birthday May 23 — and with more than 500 songs to her credit, the time is right for Jewel’s “Greatest Hits” tour, which hits The Smith Center Thursday.

Like all of Jewel’s tours, this one finds the singer-songwriter onstage surrounded by ... her guitars.

“I’ve always toured solo acoustic,” she explains in a telephone interview from her Texas home — where she’s just returned following the Los Angeles premiere of “Ring of Fire,” the Lifetime drama in which she portrays singer June Carter Cash; it premiered earlier this week. (But more about that later.)

Sure, Jewel’s got an opening act on tour — two, in fact.

One is singer-songwriter Steve Poltz , a pal from back in her San Diego coffeehouse days, who “helped me get my start” — and co-wrote “You Were Meant For Me,” which turned up on her smash album debut.

Jewel describes Poltz as “a really charismatic storyteller,” reminiscent of John Prine or Rufus Wainwright.

Jewel also has an even stronger connection with her second opening act: her little brother Atz Lee Kilcher.

Named after their father, Atz is on “his first real tour” and makes his living in Alaska performing with a band, Jewel says.

“He’s really talented, really original,” according to his big sister.

Many would apply that description to Jewel herself: poet, short-story writer, painter, producer, actress and musician. (Not to mention world-class yodeler.)

Daughter of an Alaskan homesteader and performer — the patriarch of the Discovery reality series “Alaska: The Last Frontier” — Jewel has ranged across pop, dance, country and even children’s music during her eclectic career. (She also starred in the 1999 Civil War drama “Ride With the Devil,” directed by double Oscar-winner Ang Lee.)

But on Jewel’s current “Greatest Hits” tour, all she needs is a spotlight — and her guitars.

“Without a band, I’m much more free to improvise,” Jewel says.

In the process, “I talk a lot; I tell a lot of stories,” she adds.

And she listens to the audience members who’ve come to listen to her.

“What I enjoy about it — it’s like having a dance partner,” she says. “The real fun is when you can feel that audience.”

Sometimes, she says, audiences want to kick back and aren’t in the mood for “wordy, intellectual” material.

“At other times, people want to be emotional — they want to have a good cry,” Jewel says.

Either way, “venues make a huge difference” in the mood of a concert, she says.

In part, that’s because “so much of your ability to cast a spell on an audience” depends on the vibes in the hall. “I’m big into the psychology of a room — the way the shape of a room” can impact audience response. (“It’s fascinating,” Jewel says. “I could have a whole separate career in design.”)

Although “I believe my job is to make any place work,” Jewel says her favorite type of venue is “a theater” — and The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall definitely qualifies on that score.

“I’m sure I’ll love it,” she says, recalling the range of Las Vegas venues she’s played in the past — from the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, now attached to Planet Hollywood Resort, to the Springs Preserve’s 2007 grand opening.

“I love touring — I don’t do it as often as I should,” she says.

One reason, perhaps, is her son Kase , who turns 2 in July — and accompanies his mom on tour. (Kase’s dad is Jewel’s husband, rodeo pro Ty Murray.)

While the tour may be Jewel’s “Greatest Hits” — inspired by a “Greatest Hits” album of the same name, released in February — those hits range from chart-toppers to more obscure fan favorites.

“My fans get passionate about certain songs” and keep “trying to resurrect them,” the singer-songwriter says.

And while Jewel tries to oblige them, “it’s like homework” to revive “a song I haven’t played in 20 years,” she admits.

As a result, there are times when she’s stumped by a request.

Pegging her success rate at “maybe 80 percent,” which “doesn’t say very much about my memory,” Jewel considers it “flattering” that her “old-school troubadour fans” remain so devoted to songs that even their composer can’t always recall.

(At least they’ll have a recording of her performance; Jewel has every show of hers recorded, in part because “there are so many songs I’ll never get a chance to record.”)

Fans of Jewel’s acting also can rev up their DVRs to record “Ring of Fire,” which returns to Lifetime June 9. (More information on the movie is available at www.mylifetime.com.)

Jewel filmed the movie in June 2012, responding to the script — and the chance to play “a great character,” she says. (Just ask Reese Witherspoon, who won a best actress Oscar playing June Carter Cash in the 2005 Johnny Cash biopic “Walk the Line.”)

But “she deserved not just to be known as somebody’s wife,” Jewel says. “She was a woman that really deserved her own movie.”

Jewel also hopes “Ring of Fire” will introduce “a new generation to the Carter Family,” famous as the first family of country music long before Johnny Cash became a star.

“Transformative roles are still rare” in Hollywood, Jewel says, noting that acting lets her exercise different creative muscles than writing or singing.

But she’s not about to spend more time looking for other movie roles.

“I enjoy it, but I am ambitious-slash-lazy,” she admits. “If someone wants to hand me a good script,” she’d consider it, but “playing somebody’s ubiquitous girlfriend” is not for her.

Especially not when she’s got the role of a lifetime to pursue: just being Jewel.

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@
reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.