Jewel on performing, 2001

"My dad was really good at it. He was always the one who would tell stories and make up songs on the spot about audience members. We’d do the four hour-long sets, and we would walk around between sets and talk to everyone. I was really shy and stiff onstage, real self-conscious. And then I went through other phases where I’d been onstage so long, at age 14 or 15, that it would get way too comfortable--you’re too relaxed and you don’t have any respect for it. You’re not entertaining; you’re just like in your living room.

"I think when I started playing my own music, I came into my own, because I get lost in the emotion of the song--I don’t have to think about it at all. I just learned to have a rapport with the audience and talk and tell stories and joke around, and I began to enjoy that as much as singing."

From the book The Complete Singer-Songwriter: A Troubadour's Guide to Writing, Performing, Recording, and Business