Whatever happened to Jewel?
Having portrayed June Carter Cash in the 2013 Lifetime biopic Ring of Fire, Jewel got an immense opportunity when she was asked to write and record a song for a new Johnny Cash album. 2018’s Forever Words featured Jewel alongside other world-famous artists, including Kacey Musgraves, Willie Nelson, Elvis Costello, Chris Cornell, and Alison Krauss. Discussing the album with AL.com, Jewel said, “You don’t go be-bopping through your life thinking you’re going to have a cowrite with Johnny Cash.” While Cash passed away in 2003, musicians were asked to create new tracks based upon the legend’s handwritten words and poetry.
Speaking about the task of writing a new Johnny Cash song, Jewel told the website, “I had to try and take it in stride and not get intimidated by it.” She continued, “They were very poetic lyrics. I think that song, in particular, is so tender, the lyric, and it’s actually quite sexy. I don’t know that people really knew that side of him.” Jewel wrote the song “Body on Body,” and according to John Carter Cash, the singer was one of the first people he approached to take on his father’s words. He revealed on the album’s official website, “I had worked with Jewel before. The first time, back in the 1990s, she actually opened a show for my father in Europe.” Discussing Jewel’s contribution to the album, he added, “I believe it’s something my father would’ve loved also.”
