It’s been three years between Jewel’s last studio album, 0304, and her new one, Goodbye Alice in Wonderland (Atlantic). That’s the longest gap between albums since her 1995 debut, Pieces of You, and its follow-up, Spirit. The reason for that time span was that it took almost a year for Jewel’s debut to catch on with listeners, and by the time it did, there seemed to be no stopping its momentum. You could call the time between her previous and latest albums more of a self-imposed break. Returning to work, refreshed and renewed, Jewel sounds like someone who has found her purpose again on Goodbye Alice in Wonderland. I spoke with Jewel shortly before the release of the new album.

Gay & Lesbian Times: You are an artist who found her voice early. How would you say that your voice has evolved?

Jewel: I grew up bar singing, so a lot of my vanity when I was singing came out when I was young; to show off a lot and do a lot of tricks and trills and somersaults vocally – vocal acrobatics. I kind of got over that by the time I was 18. I became really interested in writing and started to use my voice to try and tell the story. I tend to sing a lot better live than I do on record. I tried to resolve that on this record by doing all live vocals with the band, so it’s one take, which isn’t being done anymore because of the convenience of being able to record 10 times and piece together this perfect take. With me it just made me sound kind of plastic and less emotional. I tried to keep this record really emotional and raw.

GLT: What about your voice as a songwriter?

J: As a storyteller, I think what shaped and stamped me and has continued to inform the kind of stories I like to tell and the topics I’ve dealt with on the records have been pretty consistent. I talk about myself, where I am, where I’ve been, where I hope to go. How I feel like I relate to the world, my environment, love [and] all those kinds of things. Generally, within each song or in specific songs I branch it out into the macrocosm, [with] songs about social commentary, like “Who Will Save Your Soul?” or “Intuition” from my last record or “Satellite” from the new record. The themes never really have changed, but how I go about it or what kind of record I feel like making tends to change.

GLT: So does that mean after recording for more than 10 years you look back on your early work fondly or with a critical eye?

J: I’ve always been more critical of myself during a project. With enough distance I tend to get a little bit kinder or at least see the value in something. I’m hard on myself. I look back on a lot of my early writing and I realize that one of my strong suits was a rawness and naiveté to the craft that allowed a lot of creativity to come through. At the time I was just sort of embarrassed a lot by it. In some ways you learn what’s special about it, especially if you become a professional writer and it becomes your job to understand the craft and have a handle on that. Sometimes the craft can eclipse the emotion, so you’ll see writers get very skilled at writing, but it stops moving them.

I hear that a lot about Sting. Not that I necessarily feel the same way. The Police work was raw and creative, and then he got so good and skilled that some of the original rawness [left] and people lose interest. For me the trick has been to retain both the rawness and allow myself to keep growing as a writer.

GLT: In the press materials for Goodbye Alice in Wonderland, you spoke about the time you spent sequencing the album. In this era of iPods and personal playlists, how do you think that will work for listeners?

J: I’m a Gemini.

GLT: Me too!

J: Oh, really? [Laughs] Well, I like all options open to me. I think artists stop making good records because singles became so important. Not a lot of artists approach it as a whole record. I’m constantly fascinated with multi-layering things, so you come back to it again and again, getting different meaning out of the lyrics and the music, and also using sequencing to add another layer to that. But I also try to make it where if you removed any of those parts the record will still work. I think each one of those songs holds up on its own. So if you want to download one song, great. I feel like that one song will do it justice. If you want to see the whole mosaic of what happens when you put all the songs together – there are 13 separate stories for the 13 songs, but when you put it all together, it tells a whole other story. To me it’s just about giving fans options. People should listen to music the way they want, and hopefully I’ve offered enough that they can go as deep as they want to go.

GLT: In the album’s title song, you say goodbye to both Alice in Wonderland and the Yellow Brick Road. Do you feel yourself more closely aligned with the character of Alice or Dorothy?

J: The record deals with mythology in many aspects – the fantasies we’re told about love when we’re young, what perfect love’s supposed to look like once you meet your knight in shining armor. You’re supposed to ride off into the sunset and never get into an argument. Then you realize how hard love actually is, how much work it is. You’re constantly haunted by this feeling that this must not be real love because real love is supposed to be easy. Then dissatisfaction grows in you that causes you to take real love for granted. Trying to find satisfaction in the struggle and find romance is a challenge. The record deals with coming to grips with the truth about so many things, from love to what you thought the world would be like when you grew and all those kinds of things.

GLT: In the song “Satellite,” there is a list of things, including the pope, rock ’n’ roll and Valium, which you say can’t fix your broken heart. What do you think can fix a broken heart?

J: Oh, gosh. Maybe it’s different for everyone. I believe in love. I think coming to grips with what real love is is important. We have such a need for love that you trick yourself about who you’re with. You don’t let yourself see it because your need is so strong. It’s tricky stuff to talk about. It always comes back to responsibility to oneself. Trust is a choice and it should be done with discernment. The better you can get at reading those situations, the safer you are.

GLT: My favorite love song on your new record is “Where You Are.” Do you have a favorite love song on the disc?

J: There are different aspects to the love songs. “Where You Are” is very specifically about trying to find and groping toward each other, whereas “Fragile Heart” is about vulnerability and saying, “Let’s be careful with each other and try and be responsible and realize how much is at risk here.” “Only One Two” talks about an aspect of love where what’s good for one has to be good for the other – there can’t be a double standard. I tried to never repeat myself emotionally and make each love song deal with a different aspect of love.

GLT: Your previous album 0304 had a synth-pop vibe running through it, while Goodbye Alice in Wonderland rocks. Was that why you chose to work with producer Rob Cavallo?

J: I was initially a bit hesitant because he is known as the rock guy. I actually recorded this album by myself and it was called The Hollywood Hills Sessions [laughs]; the exact same songs plus two more. I was looking for honesty and simplicity so that the emotion of the songs hit you when you heard it. Sometimes when you get involved with a producer, things get complicated for no reason. There are all these gadgets in the room and they feel like they’re getting paid and it’s there job to layer more shit on there. I was really protective of these songs. I didn’t want that to happen. I’d rather err on the side of simplicity and maybe less sales and no radio single because I felt so strongly about these songs. Somebody recommended Rob after my record was done. I didn’t think he was going to get where I was coming from. After we met, I learned that he had a deep background in traditional music and knew a lot about folk music. More than that, when he saw me sing I felt like he saw what was unique about me, and I felt like he wanted to help fight to keep that.

GLT: I’m glad you mentioned Rob’s connection to folk, because you’ve now released albums rooted in folk, pop, dance and rock. Is one genre more comfortable for you than the others?

J: Not particularly. Each genre is just a color for me. Some are yellow or blue. Sometimes I make a full painting, and in general I feel like I have to draw them all in. I tend to have so many influences that you’re going to hear country and folk and rock within one record. And hopefully strong melodies, which makes things pop.

GLT: Your song “Intuition” was used in a TV commercial for a women’s razor. Do you foresee doing more of that sort of thing?

J: I doubt I’ll do one like that. But I am working with a company that does an organic body lotion line that I like a lot. Part of the money supports all organic farmers and the money goes back to The Nature Conservancy. There are things like that that I think are interesting alignments. Schick wasn’t that interesting [laughs].

GLT: You worked with Ang Lee a few years ago in the movie Ride with the Devil. How did you feel about his recent win for Brokeback Mountain at the Academy Awards?

J: The movie didn’t come to the town here that I live in, so I had to wait until I was in L.A. to see it. I had heard from some friends that it was really boring; that it was just a controversial topic and that the movie itself wasn’t that great. Like if you took the controversy out, that it wasn’t that great of a movie. I was kind of expecting the worst when I saw it, but I loved it! There’s not a thing that I would have done different. I thought it was really beautifully written. I really enjoyed it.

Jewel will perform in San Diego on Wednesday, July 5, at Viejas Concerts at Bayside. Call (619) 220-TIXS or visit www.viejasentertainment.com for tickets and information.