Singles include "Hands", "Down So Long", and a newly recorded version of "Jupiter", followed by a remix of "What's Simple Is True" to promote Jewel's debut film Ride with the Devil.

[6] In 1996, she recorded six songs with producer Peter Collins, but scrapped the tracks after singles from her debut album, Pieces of You, began to receive significant radio play.

[6] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly wrote of the album: "With her dulcet voice and lulling refrains, Jewel makes the social and political ills of the world go down easy.

"[9] Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield felt that while "Jewel's sincere sentiment has its attractions in a time of irony overload", she "spends most of Spirit straining for grand meaning-of-life statements.

"[14] Jon Pareles of The New York Times compared Jewel's vocal mannerisms on the album to those of Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Michael Stipe, and Rickie Lee Jones, adding that "half the songs ... reach an otherworldly tenderness, redeeming the lyrics through the grace of the music.