Jewel makes clear choice

Whatever else Jewel may be -- songwriter, painter, actress, hippie, host of "Nashville Star" -- one thing is perfectly clear: She's a singer of exceptional range and impeccable taste.

Since her debut in 1995, Jewel has recorded folk, pop and big band jazz. Now, with her seventh album, "Perfectly Clear" (Valory Music), the three-time Grammy nominee takes a country turn, and the results are mostly good.

Jewel, 34, sings with two voices, often within the same song. There's a whispery intimacy reminiscent of Alison Krauss' art voice, and a straightforward vocalizing that is more effective and appealing.

When she sings a straight-ahead ballad ("Anyone but You") or a contemporary country rocker ("Stronger Woman"), Jewel has an affecting presence, dynamic and bold. And if country radio continues to make room for Jewel on its narrow playlists, listeners will warm to a voice (or voices) different from the legions of fresh scrubbed females sounding as if they're cut from the same laryngeal mold.

Jewel wrote or co-wrote 10 of the album's 11 tracks, which explore country music's intrigue with romance, requited and not. With "Stronger Woman," which hit the singles chart's top 15, she stands resilient in the aftermath of serial neglect. On "Anyone but You," her heart aches and her voice cracks in the tradition of the most pained of country weepers. Mostly reflective, the album could use some up-tempo relief.

Still, there's plenty to like -- to really like -- on "Perfectly Clear." She excels on the classic-styled honky-tonker, "Till it Feels Like Cheating" (the only track of 11 she didn't write or co-write), singing with such heated passion you'd think she was raised in Alabama's Piney Woods rather than on Alaska's icy tundras. And on "Loved by You (Cowboy Waltz)," a musical tribute to her father, Jewel yodels with a confidence and style that would bring a smile to the faces of Patsy Montana and the Cackle Sisters of yore.