After the release of her self-titled debut album in 1979, Time magazine dubbed Rickie Lee Jones "the Duchess of Coolsville"—a moniker that appeared to set the tone for her career. The Chicago-born singer/songwriter brought something fresh and unexpected to a musical landscape bubbling with both punk and hip-hop. Out of L.A.'s seedy Tropicana Motel scene, Jones emerged as a neo-beatnik street poet, mixing jazz, folk and R&B into soft rock and creating classics that included breezy ballads as well as more rhythmically and melodically complex jazz masterpieces.