By Joe Hadsall

jhadsall@joplinglobe.com

If you listen to music like a radio programmer, or if you keep your iPod’s music sorted by genre, then Jewel has probably frustrated you.

She started in alternative radio, then moved into pop as her songs “You Were Meant For Me,” “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “Foolish Games” received constant airplay.

Then she embraced her inner J-Lo, slapped on some heels and sang a few techno-dance numbers. After that, she released a country album, then a kids’ album and is currently working on another country album.

But the Grammy-nominated singer who made a meteoric rise in the ’90s says she has always written the same kinds of songs — genres have simply changed around her.

“The reason I’m attracted to country is that the focus is on storytelling,” Jewel said. “Where I see pop right now, the hook is in a sound or a beat. But in country, the hook is probably always the lyrics.”

Jewel will sing some of her songs during a solo acoustic show Sunday at Downstream Casino — the same kind of performance that landed her the record deal that eventually produced her 1995 breakthrough, “Pieces of You.”

Such a show is what Jewel has been performing for most of her career.

“This is what I trained doing, when I was growing up,” Jewel said. “It’s a lot more work, but I like it.”

Meteoric rise

Her story is now legendary: After attending and graduating from the Michigan fine arts academy Interlochen when she was 16, Jewel Kilcher busked her way to San Diego and into Mexico, where the people she met inspired “Who Will Save Your Soul.” After going back to graduate from high school, she returned to San Diego and ended up homeless for a year.

She developed a loyal following at a local coffee shop, where she was eventually discovered by record labels and found herself in the middle of a bidding war.

She chose the label that let her remain a simple songwriter, she said.

“I was really afraid of fame,” Jewel said. “I was afraid I’d be trying to uphold something that I wasn’t.”