Transcript S2, Ep 1- Chavonne Stewart, That One Lyric from “I’ll Do Anything”
October 9, 2026 WATCH OR LISTEN
Ted Canova :00
We’re back with another season, and this one has been a lifetime in the making. Hi, I’m Ted Canova, and welcome to That One Lyric, the podcast that challenges music fans to pick a single lyric and tell us how it shaped their lives. Lyrics can start a conversation like nothing else. In season 1, Springsteen fans from around the world, most of them complete strangers to me, shared deeply personal stories. They made me laugh and cry, and most of all, added meaning to my life. I’m forever grateful to each one of them. Now, we begin a new season, with a new focus: the lyrics of Jackson Browne.
:40- If you know me, you know what Jackson’s music means to me. His songs have guided me for most of my life. And I know I’m not alone. This season is especially close to my heart. I’ll be joined by many of Jackson’s bandmates, along with other Grammy-winning musicians who you know...all of them here to honor Jackson by choosing That One Lyric of his, that’s impacted them.
1:06- So let’s start with Chavonne Stewart, one of Jackson’s two dynamic backup singers. You’ll get a kick how they met and how they collaborate to reinvent songs that are part of music history. And you’ll hear how Jackson inspired her to start a nonprofit that mentors high school girls. Oh, and send me your feedback, write a review, and be sure to click follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.
Ted Canova 1:43
Chavonne Stewart, it is such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you for joining That One Lyric. How are you today?
Chavonne Stewart 1:50
I'm well, Ted. Thank you for having me. Thank you really for reaching out and allowing me to share with your your audience with you over our love of music. Thank you for having me.
Ted Canova 2:03
Oh my gosh, my cheeks are hurting so much to hear you. Thank you for making me smile so much on on on this day.
Chavonne Stewart 2:11
You're welcome.
Ted Canova 2:13
Chavonne, I don't know if you've ever seen the movie 20 Feet from Stardom.
Chavonne Stewart 2:17
Yes, about the background singers, right? Yes. I saw it a while ago, but yes.
Ted Canova 2:24
I mean you're not 20 feet from stardom. You are either one foot in front of stardom or one inch behind Jackson Browne with stardom. I mean, you are so important. You and Alethea Mills, as I hate to just call you background singers, because Jackson lets you take over some songs, it's remarkable. I mean, yes, what is that feeling like?
Chavonne Stewart 2:46
It's humbling. It's, I was just, we were rehearsing with Jackson the other day, Alethea and I, and I mentioned to her, I'm so grateful that he respects our gift. We're not like you said, we're not just background singers. We get to lead. We get to offer parts and suggestions to Jackson Browne, the amazing singer-songwriter. So I'm so honored that he respects my gift, and I'm able to add value to his amazing, amazing God-given talent and gift. It's a blessing and it humbles me. And all I can do is just thank God, really.
Ted Canova 3:31
That's so beautiful. It is remarkable that there were some songs of Jackson's that had been reinvented with your voice, reimagined for sure, but there are songs when I see you guys live that Jackson doesn't sing for like the last three minutes, and it goes from Val to you to Greg to everybody's got their moment to shine, and Jackson is just watching each of you, just playing guitar with this big smile on his face. It is so selfless. I just need to give voice to that because we notice it out in the audience of what's going on. This magic on stage, and Jackson doesn't need to be leading the way to the last note of any song. It's remarkable.
Chavonne Stewart 4:16
Yeah, he's not a diva, right? He shares the stage. You've seen, Val is amazing. Greg is amazing. We've got some, we've got some amazing players. You got Jason who has stepped in after we lost our dear Jeff. He really gives space to each one of us. Fritz and Bob, like you said, the solos, and then we come with the end and our little ad libs and stuff. He gives space to our gifts. That's what I mean by respecting. It is not his way. Play it my way. What can you offer? We have a structure, right? We have a structure, but then there is freedom for us to be ourselves, and that right there makes sharing the stage with such an amazing guy worth it. It makes leaving my children and going. It makes it worth it because I'm adding value somewhere, and he's such an amazing guy. He allows me to bring my children during the summer, so that I'm not away from them as much as I used to be.
Ted Canova 5:20
Well, I don't know if you know, but they're famous pictures in the '70s from Rolling Stone Magazine of Jackson with Ethan. I have one framed on my wall right there. They were on tour in Australia, and he had just, quote, bamboozled Jackson and like thrown him into the water. And so it's not surprising that decades later Jackson is allowing you to do what he did on tour when when he had youngsters.
Chavonne Stewart 5:46
Yeah, I respect it, and it makes me feel respected and valued as a whole person-not just my gift, but the woman, the mother-that makes me feel like I can bring my whole self to Jackson's band, and it really does feel good.
Ted Canova 6:03
We're going to talk about That One Lyric from a song that you chose of Jackson's to talk about. We're also going to talk about your nonprofit that is really a mentorship and empowering of girls. But I want to get to the first time that I met you. It was backstage. You don't remember this because you and Alethea had just bopped in, and I was in Minneapolis, and had a backstage ticket I was fortunate to get, and it was Jackson and some cousins and me. And Jackson's like, "Well, what are you doing here?" You know, but you had bopped in. You guys were just so happy. It might have been the "Time the Conqueror" tour.
Chavonne Stewart 6:22
Okay.
Ted Canova 6:26
And Jackson had a story, and I want to kind of fact check it. That you guys recorded on "Time the Conqueror" and thought, well, that's it. And Jackson's like, no, no, no, no. For you to agree to appear on the album, you're coming on tour with us.
Chavonne Stewart 6:41
That was part of it. Yeah, we were used to just recording, right? Coming to the studio. Jackson has some work. He wants to create with us. We so a tour from that. We really weren't thinking we were going to go on tour from that. We did though, Alethea and I. We were planting little seeds and little hints, like, okay, someday maybe we get to go on the road. So, I think he said that because he knew there was something in us that wanted to experience a little bit just from our hints. So yes, we thought we were just recording a record, and we really didn't think tour was coming after that because we were talking about it whenever, however, you know, casually. It wasn't something like okay, now we're going on. So we just thought okay, we're recording the album, but he was like, no, now we're gonna. Honestly, he just the opportunities. Now it was time to go on tour, and what's interesting, Jackson allowed me or opened the door for me to meet Mavis Staples.
Chavonne Stewart 06:11
She was my first tour. It was through Jackson talking to her. She allowed me to audition. I auditioned. I got the tour. It was amazing. Okay, just imagine Mavis Staples.
Ted Canova 7:53
I can't imagine.
Chavonne Stewart 7:54
All right, but we're not talking about Mavis.
Ted Canova 7:56
We're talking about everything. But were you were you just out of high school at the time?
Chavonne Stewart 8:00
This was shortly after, so I was about, I want to say, 22.
Ted Canova 8:08
Okay, all right.
Chavonne Stewart 8:10
Yeah. 22, and I was on tour with Mavis. It was life changing, and all the stories about Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin and and Diana Ross. I mean, I just felt like God just took me back and allowed me a a seat at the the just at her feet to learn and and ah. So that was the first opportunity Jackson gave me in terms of touring, and then Jackson was like, "I'm gonna have to take you for Mavis," and not those words, but in those words, like you know, now it's, we're about to, and, so I had to like tell Mavis, you know, at such a such point in time, I will be ending.
Ted Canova 08:53
You broke up with Mavis Staples?!
Chavonne Stewart 08:57
And going with you know Jackson.
Ted Canova 9:00
Wow! So let me ask you something, just in terms of diversity, because you and Alethea certainly added that, and it was like an eye popper initially. Like wow, Jackson, you know, through all the years he's had all kinds of people supporting him, of all ethnicities. But you two were prominent Black, African American singers. That you know, usually you don't think of folk music, singer songwriters so much with that diversity. Was it? I don't know what my question is on this, but was it as noticeable to you? Because you know you sang in a church, and all of a sudden you're singing with this singer-songwriter from the '70s. What?
Chavonne Stewart 9:46
It's funny. Great question. Although you say you don't really know what your question is, it's a great question because when I first met Jackson, I'm thinking, who is this guy? Who is this white guy?
Ted Canova 9:56
Who’s this white guy?
Chavonne Stewart 9:59
Who is this white guy? I thought his songs were, first I was exposed. First thing I was exposed to, just the singer songwriter aspect of music. You grew up in church and gospel, and that's what that is. And and I only really knew gospel because I grew up in church. I was shielded from the secular, the R&B, Aretha Franklin, Steve Wonder. I didn't really get exposed to that music till high school, which Jackson is still shocked by today, and it's kind of like a running joke. Chavonne, who's this artist? Who's that? Because he knows I don't know.
Ted Canova 10:33
Wait, you don't know Motown artists that he puts in front of?
Chavonne Stewart 10:36
I didn't until high school, but now even today, I don't know all of them. So there will be songs that come up where we may be talking, and Alethea knows them all. So it's really the jokes on me because I don't know much. But we it's something that we can laugh about because the truth is, I was just shielded from all of that because growing up in the church, that stuff just was secular, and we weren't allowed to partake in secular.
Ted Canova 10:58
So how did it happen then? How did Jackson pluck you two, or was there some connection, a contact? How did it come about?
Chavonne Stewart 11:07
Our choir director at the time, so Jackson was always involved with schools and and in youth on some level. So this choir director came to our school. He came from another school, came to our school. Alethea and I were already the lead singers of the choir. So when Jackson came, he heard us immediately because our position.
Ted Canova 11:27
He came to a high school performance of yours?
Chavonne Stewart 11:31
He came to our choir class. It was probably during school or after school, but he just came to a class. Not even a regular performance. We were just in class rehearsing, practicing. You know, nothing practiced or rehearsed and ready for a show.
Ted Canova 11:48
Do you think he was like mining for some backup singers, or..
Chavonne Stewart 11:51
No, he had a relationship with the choir director.
Ted Canova 11:54
Okay, all right.
Chavonne Stewart 11:55
So he was looking. He was connecting, reconnecting with the director to use the choir for a show, a performance.
Ted Canova 12:04
All right.
Chavonne Stewart 12:05
And that's when he heard us as the lead singers. So he heard us. We got to support him as a choir. It wasn't the first time he heard us. We did not immediately go and work with him, right? But he heard us. The choir did go sing with Jackson. There was a time where we are playing in this in this show. We got to lead, Alethea and I. So he saw was in our element performing, and he just Jackson. I think I don't know if you know this. Growing up, Jackson had a guy who mentored him, and he said he took him to libraries and stuff and campsites, I believe, so nature. So Jackson was mentored on some level with other young kids. So that was kind of part of it. So I don't think he intentionally said, "I'm going to bring these young ladies up under my wing, or I'm going to mentor them." He just saw our gift, our gift, and really, he let it shine. He allowed us to shine. That's the the best way I can put it. He allowed us to shine. Okay, so we do some shows with him as the choir. He would call us, like Alethea and I, to do studio sessions with like the Neville Brothers and people. People I've never heard of until I met Jackson, right? This is high school. Everything my world just opened up, and we did more of that. He would have us picked up in limousines or like chauffeur from school. Can you just imagine this Black girl from South Central LA? Now I'm in high school. I met this guy who's this famous Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. I'm being picked up after school to go to his studio in Santa Monica. I'm being taken home, and my world changed. He changed my life just by being generous and allowing my gift to share in his amazing world of what he does and what he is.
Ted Canova 14:02
Oh my gosh!
Chavonne Stewart 14:04
That's how that happened.
Ted Canova 14:05
This is unreal. And at what point did you have the hutzpa to give suggestions to Jackson Browne of how you want to interpret a song? Was that after Time the Conqueror or when you went on tour?
Chavonne Stewart 14:18
Before. So we recorded a record...
Ted Canova 14:22
You didn't have input on the record, though, did you?
Chavonne Stewart 14:24
Um, some of the back, when we went Time to Conqueror, some of our background parts he allowed us to sing, and so if he liked it, if we we kept it, if he wanted to change something or change a note here, he would definitely create and lead the way, but he allowed us. What do you hear?
Ted Canova 14:44
Wait...what?
Chavonne Stewart 14:46
He would say, he would ask us, "What do you hear? What do you girls hear?"
Ted Canova 14:51
Wow, this is really kind of like dissecting how a song is made. So, what did you, what did you take from that question, what do you hear?
Chavonne Stewart 15:00
Here's, growing up in church gives you an advantage I think that you really don't get get in school, college. Growing up in church, we're not sitting there like learning how to read music. We are picking it up, ear only. We are feeling it, heart, soul, spirit, and we sing it. So that's what he knew about Alethea and I. He wasn't going to put a sheet of music in front of us and say, "Sing this with me." He would lay down his part. He would lay down the chorus. We would come into the studio and listen in the studio, in the in the booth with him, or the the control center, we would listen, and he would either say "Sing this" or "Girls, what are you hearing?" to add the harmony parts. That's how it would come together.
Ted Canova 15:52
Oh my God!
Chavonne Stewart 15:53
So because we were raised in church, there was um, a confidence to just, you pick it up and you sing and you create and you find your part. It doesn't take long. So I think he really I think he was fascinated by that.
Ted Canova 16:08
Well, I'm fascinated by this.
Chavonne Stewart 16:11
I think he was fascinated that he could that we could hear and then we can sing. We did not have to read. We did not have to. We could just hear it and sing it.
Ted Canova 16:20
Did you know the potential of bastardizing some of the greatest songs ever? Like you are too young to know what this music has meant to my generation in the 70s. Like this is like you know rock history that you added an interpretation. Were you oblivious to that? Hopefully, so it didn't inhibit you, or were you realizing, holy cow, we are taking The Pretender and doing something else to it?
Chavonne Stewart 16:58
I was oblivious, and I was just singing. I did not know the magnitude of all that Jackson Browne was, what he meant to his fans. Now, when we would do shows, we would see women, right? We would see and hear.
Ted Canova 17:15
Well, you would see women and one man. You would see one man standing up!
Chavonne Stewart 17:20
But we saw, Oh, they love him. Oh no, they really love him, right? So we knew that he was loved and respected. We didn't know what we were adding to such a to the catalog. We didn't know what was what we were adding to the Jackson Browne catalog that was already established. We didn't know. We just showed up, and that's what Jackson would tell you. I would call the girls, and that's one thing they would do. They they would show up. We showed up, and we gave our best, and we loved it, and we knew it was an opportunity to to share our gift, to be doing what we loved, and I I got to do it with my best friend, and we got to do it together. You can't beat that. So show up. After a while, you can't be around Jackson and not know that he's a genius. Okay, you cannot be in the studio and watch him create and and ignore the genius. He's a genius. He can hear every little thing. Every he's a genius. Years ago, genius. So we learned to respect his genius early on. So when people would flood the stage after a while, we got it. We got it because in sound check, in when he would make corrections and make changes, Alethea and I was like we were in a master class. Every time we're with him, it's it's definitely a masterclass.
Ted Canova 18:41
Still, still?
Chavonne Stewart 18:42
Still. I was in rehearsal. I told you we were rehearsal the other day. Can I pull up the lyrics really quickly?
Ted Canova 18:47
Yeah, please, please. No, are you kidding? Like..
Chavonne Stewart 18:50
Because it was that song that made me really
Ted Canova 18:52
We are one foot from stardom right now. So take your time and I'll just hum along here, waiting for you to catch up. Oh, what a bird's eye view you're you're giving us, Chavonne, this is....
Chavonne Stewart 19:06
Drums of War. He pulled that out. Drums of War. First of all, it's it's definitely for today. It's a song for today. But when Alethea and I, before we, when I got to rehearsal, I said, "Alethea, I know you were listening to Drums of War because we had to come to rehearsal prepared. So it's been years since we've sang this song. So I had to rehearse and listen to it, and as I'm listening to this song, I'm thinking, what he brought out of us is the melodies and beautiful. It made me respect my gift. So in rehearsal, in rehearsal, as we are singing this, it's been, Ted, over 10 years that we've sang the song together, and we're singing it as if we just recorded it…
Ted Canova 19:52
Oh my God.
Chavonne Stewart 19:53
Aweek ago. The way it came together, the way our harmonies got to blend and work with his. I just I was already ready to sing the song and in awe of what he did through us and through our gift. But singing it in rehearsal, I told Alethea again, like I told you, I'm just so grateful that he respects our gift because we we sound amazing. It feels so good and not cocky. He knows how to bring the best out of each and every one of us to get the sound he needs. So it was that song the other day. Yeah, that I thought the man is a genius. I respect him so much. He makes me sing differently. He brings out a different type of singer in me. I grew up in church, so it was hard and powerful and passionate, and and the passion didn't lose, but the hardness. He taught me to be a a gentle singer.
Ted Canova 20:49
Yeah, there's a nuance that you provide on stage sometimes, and even Alethea and your hand's hands, expressions, and you know you. You you are flowing. There's this flow to the background music. Can you identify at least one of his hits that you have just been mesmerized by because his lyrics?
Chavonne Stewart 21:09
They're beautiful. They grip your heart. Let me, I want to say pretender
Ted Canova 21:11
Yeah.
Chavonne Stewart 21:12
I'm going to say Pretender. It impacted me, but it impacted my home. My husband listens to it. My daughters listen to it. It's in my husband's golf playlist. It's a song that we can relate to, right? Everybody knows someone on some level who's faking it till they make it, who is out there doing their best, pretending maybe they don't want to, maybe they do. I don't know. Who's it touches everybody, and you don't have to grow up with his music to connect to his writings and the stories that he tell, so I would have to say Pretender and the end of Pretender. Pretender for so many reasons. So Jackson has me the way that I sing and I harmonize. I can be on the bottom, right before the line is over, the the the chorus is over. You find me on top. So we are like in a maze of we sing together so well, and you can't just pick that up. Any old body, right? You, I think again, he respects. "Oh, they can do not anything, but mostly anything. So let me let me give Chavonne this and have her start here, and then let me. I want you to end on top of us." It's beautiful.
Ted Canova 22:24
Give me, give me an example right now. I'm going to ask you to sing. I'm going to ask you to sing right now.
Chavonne Stewart 22:29
Okay, I want to get the right key.
Ted Canova singing 22:32
Say a prayer for the pretender.
Chavonne Stewart 22:36
I'm going to get the right key. Pretender.
Ted Canova 22:38
You need to play this in order to sing it?
Chavonne Stewart 22:41
I do because I don't want to be. I just need to get the right key.
Ted Canova 22:44
Okay.
Chavonne Stewart 22:45
And I don't want to because this is, you know people are gonna watch this, right?
Ted Canova 22:47
Yeah, well, at least one, and it might be Jackson. I don't know.
Chavonne Stewart 22:58
Here we go.
Chavonne Stewart singing 23:00
We waited for love to bring. He's such a genius between the longing for love and the struggle of the legal tender, where the sirens sing and the church bells ring and the junk man pounds his fender. Ooh, wait! Ooh, ooh! Children solemnly wait.
So that's me working around him and doing all these. I start low. I'm up high. I'm in the middle, and I'm able to do that. And he trusts me to do that.
Ted Canova 24:00
Oh my goodness!
Chavonne Stewart 24:03
I'm sorry. That might have been a little rough.
Ted Canova 24:05
Rough, rough! Are you out of your mind, Chavonne?!
Chavonne Stewart 24:09
Around him.
Ted Canova 24:10
Oh my gosh! Just to know what what this takes, you know, the song playing you know, there's this collaboration Playing for Change, where there's over a dozen musicians from all around the world with incredible video that syncs up, and you've got a solo in that on Doctor My Eyes.
Chavonne Stewart singing 24:27
'Cause I have wandered through this world, As each moment has unfurled, I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams, People go just where they willI never noticed them until I got this feeling, That it's later than it seems
Jackson Browne singing 24:51
Doctor, my eyes, tell me what you see. I hear their cries, just say if it's too late for me.
Ted Canova 25:06
Tell me what that was like to record.
Chavonne Stewart 25:10
First, Jackson called me. First, he called to see if I could, if it was in my register. So, oftentimes he'll call and say he'll sing something and say, "Can you sing this?" So he'll sing it to me, and then I'll sing it back to him.
Ted Canova 25:25
He will, over the phone, he's singing..
Chavonne Stewart 25:26
He's singing over the phone.
Ted Canova 25:27
He's singing "Doctor My Eyes" over the phone to you?
Chavonne Stewart 25:30
Yes, just to make sure because they asked him. I believe it went through him before he brought it to me, and because Jackson's not going to have anybody just singing his songs. Okay, he needs to give the stamp of approval.
Chavonne Stewart 25:44
But he, but he already knows that you can sing Doctor My Eyes, right?
Chavonne Stewart 25:47
He does. I've never I've never sang a lead, so a verse. So and the verses are kind of low. So he wanted to make sure that I could project, and so I sang it back to him, and he said, "Okay, that'll work." And so the day of the recording, I met Playing for Change. I met them at the beach, and we set everything up. It was quick, and I recorded it. And what it again? Here I am. I often have to thank God. I have to thank God because He gave me a gift, and then He exposed me to Jackson Browne in high school. My world became bigger. I began to travel and meet people and experience things, and then here I am with opportunities to share this gift all over the world, like playing for change and to do good. It wasn't just singing; I'm singing for good. That's the one thing that connected Jackson and I-the good work beyond the stage, the work that we do, the work that we're part of, the people that we help-that right there made it all. Makes it worth it for me because it's not just singing; we're doing good work.
Ted Canova 27:00
Let's get to That One Lyric you chose to talk about, and then we're going to talk about how you are leading the charge to mentor young girls. What song did you pick That One Lyric of Jackson's to talk about?
Chavonne Stewart 27:14
For That One Lyric of Jackson's, I chose "I'll Do Anything."
Jackson Browne singing 27:20
You hold a life there in your hands, You probably don't know, Somehow your dreams became my plans, Somewhere long ago.
Ted Canova 27:40
Oh my God! I didn't see this one coming. From the album "I'm Alive" in 1993. Why? Why this song?
Chavonne Stewart 27:47
Okay, here's why. Here is why.
Ted Canova 27:49
Before getting into the lyric.
Chavonne Stewart 27:50
He's also shocked too because
Ted Canova 27:51
Who's shocked?
Chavonne Stewart 27:53
Jackson. When I told him, "I love this song," he was like, "Do you know that it was made for a movie and it was almost like a comedy?
Ted Canova 28:02
What? Wait. Wait. Do I know this story?
Chavonne Stewart 28:04
It was supposed to go on a sound check for a movie. It didn't make it, but it was more of a comedic song, right? Because you know, listen to what it's saying. For me, I just thought, oh, to love somebody like that.
Ted Canova 28:18
Oh.
Chavonne Stewart 28:19
I think it's just amazing.
Ted Canova 28:22
Right, right. Okay, so now we know why you picked the song. Do you want to sing the lyric that you want to talk about?
Chavonne Stewart singing 28:30
Okay. You hold a life there in your hands. You probably don't. You probably just don't know. Somehow your dreams became my plans somewhere long ago. Think about the things we've done and where we've been. Your touch made me a king. I don't wanna live without your love again. I'll do anything.
Ted Canova 29:11
Oh my God!
Chavonne Stewart 29:12
That, I mean, the whole song. I'll fly this plane upside down. I'll walk out on the wing. You gotta really love somebody, and I know he said it was a joke. Somewhere inside of me, I believe that I believe that that love exists for somebody else to make their dreams your plans, to be invested, to support them, to walk alongside them, to be responsible, to to make sure I love you well, and you know that I love you well, and I'll do anything so that you know that I love you. For me, that's I don't care comedy or whatever. I love like that. I want to love like that. I want to experience love like that. I think I'm a hopeless romantic, honestly.
Ted Canova 29:57
Same, same. Let me ask you something. While this song to you is so much like boy, this is the ultimate in love. What happens when the person isn't reciprocating?
Chavonne Stewart 30:11
I think that's where love never fails, right? And I believe God is love. I'm a Christian, so I believe in Jesus Christ, and love doesn't fail. So if the other end, as you you can hear all throughout Jackson's songs, he's dealt with heartbreak. He's dealt with loss. The other end may drop the ball. I'm promising that I won't.
Ted Canova 30:32
Oh my God! Yep.
Chavonne Stewart 30:33
And that's and I'm getting teary-eyed because that's the love of God. It doesn't, it doesn't change. It doesn't go away. It doesn't matter what you do. It doesn't matter how far away you've drifted. The love of God. There's a scripture that says nothing can separate you from the love of God. So I believe in love, and I believe that love remains. So that's why the other side of that, the other person-they can drop the ball. I'm committed, me. I'm committed to love, and I'm committed to loving you. That's why it touches me the way it does.
Ted Canova 31:13
Oh my goodness, how beautiful! You know, he ends one of the verses. Don't ever let another take my place. I'll do anything. I mean, he even brings up the specter of temptation that someone could take my place.
Chavonne Stewart 31:26
Yeah.
Ted Canova 31:27
You know, a plea, right? A plea. I'll do anything.
Chavonne Stewart 31:34
Yeah, because and I've experienced that love. I've experienced just sticking in it with with with your children, with your parents, with your siblings. Like love will cause you to have the difficult conversation. Real love will allow you to humble yourself and and come together and say, "How do we make this right? How do we make this work?" Only love can do that. Only love can.
Ted Canova 32:05
Chavonne, another lyric. I make this world a place for you and me. I make your happiness my responsibility. You know, there's some thought that like you're giving yourself up and taking such responsibility. And I know that love shouldn't keep score, but Jackson is just so emphatic of the weight he is going to put on his shoulders to make this work.
Chavonne Stewart 32:36
Only love can do that. I don't mean to be deep. I don't mean to even go. But think about why think about what Christ did for me on Calvary. I think about what love did for me. It took on all of my sin. It took on all that I I wasn't even born yet. All that I am. All that I'm not, and went to Calvary so that I can have an opportunity to have a free life, free from sin. Now, love takes on responsibility. God is love. Love can only do that. And Jackson, although we've joked before, he doesn't proclaim to be anything spiritual, whatever. But there's a heart in him that's so connected to love. There's his. He's he's a loving guy. What you see on the stage is true off the stage. He is, he is a loving, generous, kind soul.
Ted Canova 33:34
You grew up in a tough neighborhood, the Watts neighborhood of L.A. and that has kind of informed you to help empower young girls through a unique mentoring program, and you started a nonprofit. You're the founder and CEO of Exposure E X P O S H E R. Tell me what the impetus for starting this was.
Chavonne Stewart 34:00
Of course, it was the exposure I received when I met Jackson Browne in high school. My world opened up. I come from what South Central LA. All I was I grew up around was just church and family. I didn't see career women, career men. I didn't I didn't even dream to be a famous singer, although I sang in church. It wasn't my dream to be a famous singer. In high school, the choir teacher asked me the first day I walked in his class, "What do you want to be when you grow up? I said, "A pastor's wife, and I want to treat people right." That's all I had. I didn't have any dreams or aspirations to do anything beyond that. So again, I told you in high school, I met Jackson. My world opened up. We began to sing at benefits, and I began to go into mansions and stuff. And something inside of me said, "Wait, this is available to me." God did that for me. He showed me something different because I had dreams and plans to do good good by people, but I was limited. It wasn't necessarily going to be through church. I had to go to the other world, see wealth, be part of these these benefits where we are singing and performing and raising money for people to do good for others. So, God showed me that, and what clicked was okay. I can start something because I'm participating. I'm seeing all this.
35:19- And I also worked at an after-school nonprofit organization around the arts, teaching vocal lessons and performance, and I was like in the administration, so that was happening too. I was getting skill there, but performing and and just seeing another world, all of that made me think. The exposure made me say, "Ah, I can do this for somebody else, and this is how I'm going to do it. I'm going to start my own nonprofit. I'm going to show girls who come from where I come from that there's more out there, and once they see it, I don't know what they're going to do with it." I never thought that I would start an organization and mentor girls and all that. I was gonna marry a pastor and have a church. So in my mind, but it's the exposure, it's seeing something new, being a part of something, and your mind begins to open up, and you're around people who begin to talk to you and share things, and it really opened my mind.
36:15- And I said, I'm going to start my own in this. So that's how that came to be. Me being in different places and spaces and seeing how things work, and I thought I can do the same thing for girls like me. That's how exposure begins. So it's a program where we have workshops on focused on life skills and then career careers, where girls are exposed to many careers by men and women. We focus more so on women because we want girls to know what's available to them and the the women who are out there in these careers that they may have never even thought of, and then every summer we do a summer girl retreat where or weekend summer girl weekend where we go to college. We've been at Pepperdine for the last two years, and we do that three days, and we have workshops to where the first two days we prepare these girls to be in a space with other professionals, just like I was. I don't know if I was prepared. God just said here, so we prepare the girls because we want them to be intentional. We want them to be aware of what's happening. We want them to know that there's opportunity here, and we want to prepare you so that you can step into the opportunity. So the summer girl weekend is our biggest event, to where we have between 35 and 50 girls stay at the college, and we do workshops. We prepare them for the last day, where we have our networking mixer, and now they're in a room with professionals, and they're talking and they're sharing their dreams and they make connections and it's life changing.
37:45
One of the girls and I'll just share this. She has a sister who is autistic, and we had a speech pathologist come share about her career and then they got to broke up break off and talk one on one and the girls got to ask questions and the professionals got to share more in depth about what they do, and when the young lady got up to speak about her experience and how it impacted her, she says, "I have a little sister, and we really don't get along because I don't understand her because she's autistic. But after speaking to this speech pathologist, I have hope that I can connect with my sister because I know that I just have to find ways." Whatever conversation she had with the speech pathologist gave her hope that she can have a better relationship with her little sister.
Ted Canova 38:30
Empathy, right. Empathy,
Chavonne Stewart 38:32
Empathy. She, she didn't go there expecting that. That's not what she went there for.
Ted Canova 38:39
Wow, what a story.
Chavonne Stewart 38:40
But that's the space we create. You don't know what's going to happen. To show up for yourself, because it's going to change your life.
Ted Canova 38:45
Well, Chavonne, also by doing it on a college campus, I'm not. I don't want to stereotype and say this is the first time that these 30 girls are on a college campus, but you are in a setting where, wow, this is a possibility one day.
Chavonne Stewart 38:58
Yes, and that's the goal, too, to have them be exposure. It's all about exposing to what's available to them. So, like me, I got to go into these mansions in Bel Air, okay, and all it did for me was say, "Oh, this is available to me." So that's what I want it to be for those girls. I don't want them to feel like it's out of reach. I want you to be here, feel it here. Step inside the room. Sit down in a seat. Speak and and and share and know that you belong here because it's available to you. We do a Malibu workshop where we go and talk about real estate, and they get to see these homes on the beaches prior to the fires, and they got to see these homes on beaches. And you know what? One girl said, "Wait a minute. So I just need to work harder because I would love to live like this." That's the goal. Not to say here wealth is for you. It's not about selling wealth. It's about letting them know that nothing is off limits to you.
Ted Canova 39:54
Yeah.
Chavonne Stewart 39:56
Nothing.
Ted Canova 39:57
Aspirational. Yeah, I love that. I want to put your website on my website. It's exposureinc.org. Folks can go on and donate to your nonprofit. It's a tax deduction, so I really encourage people to do that. I was wondering whether Jackson, I knew that he must be a champion for you outside of his music.
Chavonne Stewart 40:21
He's been my top champion.
Jackson Browne 40:23
I’m a supporter of Exposher. It’s a great honor to be involved, it’s just a pleasure. The important thing to know is that these girls, it’s a pivotal moment in their lives. It’s going to affect them right now for the next several years. It’ll be a gift that continues to influence them and work for them. You can have a lasting effect on the world by mentoring one or two people.
Chavonne Stewart 40:46
He's believed in my work and believed in me, and it kind of humbles me to hear him say that he he respects the work like there's respect there, and I'm proud of you. It's it's beyond just him being my boss and this famous rock and roll folk rock artist. He's a brother. He's a friend. He's he's family.
Ted Canova 41:10
That's beautiful. I would be remiss not to ask you a question that you may not want to answer.
Chavonne Stewart 41:16
Okay.
Ted Canova 41:18
I met Greg at a benefit in Boston, and he said, "You know, with everything going on, you know, knowing Jackson, he probably is writing a lot." Do you have a sense that there might be new music, a new album that he's working on? And again, don't feel that you're breaking confidence. This isn't breaking news. I don't want to take advantage of this.
Chavonne Stewart 41:42
Jackson hasn't told me anything, but I have a sense that there might be.
Ted Canova 41:48
A song or an album?
Chavonne Stewart 41:51
Not quite sure. I can't. I can't say, but I know that he is getting to himself. He's getting back to his love of being with the pen and the paper and yeah.
Ted Canova 42:07
And is that how he writes? Does he write freehand with a pen and paper?
Chavonne Stewart 42:11
Pencil and paper, yes. Yellow notepad, like the great, late Dr. Maya Angelou, which I love. So yes.
Ted Canova 42:23
Great to know. Thank you. I can do this for, you asked how long do I have? I'm like, I don't know. I'm I'm fine. This is a great way to spend my life. Just keep let's keep this Zoom on, and anytime you want to check in, I'll I'll be here. Just blow a whistle and come running. So, Chavonne, I really enjoyed getting to know you. I have appreciated you and your gifts and respect the role you play and the responsibility you have to reimagine some of the not some of the greatest music and the greatest singer songwriter that's ever lived. I I swear he means so much to so many people like me, and he should know that there is so much love at this time in his life with everything that's going on, the support and the respect, the space, the the eagerness, the the the patience that fans have and want him to be taking care of himself, and it is so great to see that he is getting the full band back together and not just playing a song and a benefit here and there. So thank you for being part of that.
Chavonne Stewart 43:33
Thank you, thank you for this space you've allowed me to share with you. Thank you.
Ted Canova 43:39
You're welcome. I'll see you on tour. Thank you. All right. Bye bye, Chavonne.
Jackson Browne singing 44:35
"I'll do anything."