(audience cheering) - Hi.
- Oh my gosh. Hello.
That was so beautiful, man.
That was, I love that.
- Well I had real shoes to fill so I was honored
to get to do it with, with you and for you.
(audience applauding)
- Oh my gosh.
Well it was, you sound incredible,
you and my band.
I was like, "Oh, I could listen to this all day."
That whole vibe is so perfect for all of y'all.
But thank you for stepping in for me with that song.
Did you sing Christmas music growing up?
You a big fan?
- Yeah, we grew up without television, without radio,
and so singing was like our main tradition.
So tons of Christmas songs and folk songs,
and Swiss German songs, all kinds for the holidays.
- Oh, that's so fun.
Well, you also sang, I love this,
we just had Dolly on, I love Dolly Parton.
You've recently sang for her, right?
(audience cheering) - Yeah. I love...
Isn't Dolly the best?
Yeah, I was really honored.
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos had me come and get to sing
for her as she was awarded that $100 million civility grant.
It was incredible.
And I actually got to sing "Jolene" for her there,
which made me very nervous, but it was very fun, yeah.
(audience applauding)
- You know what, I'll tell you what, I've had to sing one
of her songs in front of her
and it is terrifying,
'cause, you know what I'm saying?
The person is there, that's their baby.
They made it iconic.
You're like, "What am I doing?"
Like it is terrifying.
Even if you feel like a confident singer, it's like,
"Man don't screw this up."
- Yeah. I had like the sweat mustache, the sweaty boobs
the whole nine yards.
You guys know what I'm talking about.
(Kelly laughing) It's real.
- I have like, the sweat trickles down the back.
- That happens. - It's ugly, yeah.
- So, do you remember the first time you met Dolly
or maybe one of your favorite experiences with her?
Because you've worked with her a few times.
- Yes. I grew up on a homestead with an outhouse.
So her, for me growing up was like a hero
because she had a somewhat similar lifestyle.
So, I was really excited.
I had her sing on a song of mine
called "My Father's Daughter."
She came in and sang.
She showed up like that.
That was 7:45 AM.
(audience laughs)
She looks on point at all times.
She put me at ease.
She's like, "Now, hey, I'm so glad that I'm here
but I need you to keep me honest in case I don't sing good.
And in case you're too intimidated.
I brought it, gotta keep me honest."
And I was like, "All right."
(Kelly laughing) It was amazing.
- I love your impression.
I I love her.
I thought, and I thought that was so cool
that Jeff actually chose her
for that grant because, I mean, her whole career
she's done amazing things musically
obviously, but as a human,
she's done incredible things for educators
like reading, for just, so many things.
She's just a person that's constantly giving.
So, it was like the perfect person
to grant that money to do good with.
I was very stoked about that.
But you also recently took a trip to Italy,
which, I love Italy.
So, you ate breakfast and where was this?
- This was in, let's see,
where was I, in Venice at the Iman Hotel.
My son and I, I had some work, I had some shows over there,
but my son and I made a vacation of it,
and this was in this incredible place.
So, like painted ceilings.
It's not like Alaska, y'all.
There was toilet paper and everything.
(audience laughs) It was nice.
- It was fancy.
I took a trip to Italy once
and I actually went to Venice.
And it's cool to go on the steps, like on the thing.
Did you see, I ended up seeing like Vivaldi Four Seasons,
and they dressed up like in character.
You went in the room and sat in the seats
and listened like as if it was back in the day.
Did you do anything like that?
- Okay, that sounds way better than what I did.
I ate a gelato.
But yours sounds like it was winning.
- I was like, well I think, I didn't know
if I'd ever go back, 'cause I also did feel claustrophobic,
'cause the water at night, I was like, "Am I drowning?"
So I don't know if I thought I'd ever go back
'cause I was like, I need to do it all like really quickly.
But I definitely had gelato too, Girl.
So is it true that your grandfather was actually from Italy?
- Switzerland, and he believed that Europe was gonna fail.
He thought that if Europe had a certain population index
the whole civilization would fail.
He talked artists, poets, philosophers
and painters into thinking maybe this was true.
They all decided to leave Europe and form like a free place
in Alaska where they were giving away free land
if he would go up there for a whole winter and not die.
So he went ahead of them on a boat
and he stood away on an Italian ship and was discovered.
But my granddad's specialty was learning folk songs
in the dialects of different villages.
And so he happened to recognize the captain's dialect
and guessed the village he was from in Italy
and he happened to be right and they gave him safe passage
and that's how I ended up in Alaska.
Yeah, crazy right?
- What? (audience applauding)
That's a really cool story.
That's an amazing story
of how your family navigated their way and ended up
in Alaska, which my brother actually lived there
for like seven years and it, that is hard to do, like,
'cause of the sun is just gone for, like,
a long period of time, yeah.
- It's true.
- It's a lot different than Switzerland, I feel like.
So, Jewel, how have the holidays been for you so far?
Like how has Thanksgiving?
- It was good.
I'm a single mom, as you know,
so single parenting is a big adjustment.
I've been divorced for seven years.
So, my ex keeps my son for Thanksgiving
and I have him for Christmas and it's really great
but it's a trip to get used to being alone
for a holiday like that and all my family in Alaska.
But it wasn't too bad.
I didn't see a tiny violin.
It was like (imitates violins) brought the show down.
- No! It's so funny.
I'm gonna turn it around.
Like I, my ex actually has my kids
every Thanksgiving as well.
It's not like my favorite holiday.
And it is for his family.
So I was like, "Cool."
And I actually, it was weird for me.
I don't know if it was, I know you've been, you know,
divorced for a while but it was so weird
'cause you've always had a kid there,
and then all of a sudden you're alone and you're, like,
at first it's weird and then you're kind of, like, okay,
you're like, I can do things.
Like, it's kind of incredible.
You do get a little me time.
- Yeah. I feel
like it must be good preparation for empty nest syndrome.
It's like, it forces me to invest
and like I have to do things before I had a child.
I suddenly seem to forget what I did,
suddenly when I'm alone I'm like, "What did I do?
I did things."
But you get better at it.
- I know, I know.
But it is, in the beginning you're just, I was like a mess.
But now I'm like, it's awesome, you know?
And then you have you, you know,
absence does make the heart fonder.
So, you're spearheading, actually,
something called the #notAloneChallenge.
So, tell us about that.
- Yeah, so I moved out at 15.
I knew statistically kids like me end
up repeating the cycle and I didn't wanna be a statistic.
I grew up in a family where abuse had been generational
and so I wanted to see if happiness was a learnable skill.
So I learned a lot of skills for myself that really
helped me learn what I call a new emotional language
because not everybody has access to therapy.
In fact, 50%
of the people that need mental health help don't have access
to any tools.
And happiness shouldn't be elite.
It shouldn't be just
for the people that can afford something
or afford a therapist.
So the #notAloneChallenge is bringing
proven tools that can scale
to everybody that lives in these mental health deserts.
(audience applauds)
- I love, that is so important.
And it's also, like, not only that people can't afford it.
I know people like from where I'm from in the south
it's still kind of looked down-upon
and people get shamed for it,
which is such a crazy thing to me, for lack
of a better word because it's one of those things
it's nice to have somebody outside your circle
that literally is trained in ways to help you navigate,
give you tools with whatever you're dealing with.
It's like, if you need help with your car, you go
to a mechanic, if you need help, you know what I'm saying?
If you, it just seems so natural to me, but I,
it's not only, it's, it's amazing 'cause the money,
but also I think society needs to really change
and evolve in the sense
of quit shaming people for it or looking down-upon it.
But how, how could people get involved?
- Oh, if you wanna get involved,
you go to notalonechallenge.org,
and there you'll find a lot of mental health tools for free.
You'll find a ton of resources, and then you can also
find all of our auction items there.
And we have incredible auction items.
We're raising money to be able to scale proven
behavioral tools so that everybody has access to them.
(audience applauds)
- That's incredible, Jewel. That's so cool.
So I hear that there's an auction and, like,
even, like, tickets, from sports tickets
to like Billy Eilish tickets.
You're offering something cool as well, right?
- Yeah, I thought that I would write a personalized song,
so people can bid on a song that I'll write.
I'll write about your dog
if that's what you want me to write it about.
I'll write about your mama, I'll write about your son.
But I thought that'd be fun so people can bid on that.
- I love, that's such a cool thing.
It's such a personal thing to do for someone.
It's really cool.