Diary of a Mod Housewife

The album was produced by the Cars guitarist Elliot Easton, with the dB member Gene Holder.[6][7] Rigby duets with John Wesley Harding on the album's third track, "Beer & Kisses".[8] Ira Kaplan contributed organ to "That Tone of Voice".[9] Diary of a Mod Housewife was written while Rigby was doing temp work in New York.[10]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[11]
Calgary Herald	[12]
Robert Christgau	A[5]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	A−[13]
Lincoln Journal Star	[9]
MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide	[14]
Spin	7/10[15]

Robert Christgau thought that Rigby personalizes "the political for a bohemia that coexists oh so neatly with structural underemployment [and thinks] harder about marriage than a dozen Nashville homilizers."[5] Entertainment Weekly called the album "an impressive debut," writing that the songs "occupy a world where relationships, jobs, and urban life are rife with unfulfilled promise."[13] The New York Times thought that "like Kate McGarrigle and Iris DeMent, Ms. Rigby has a reedy voice with steely underpinnings," writing: "With clear-cut melodies and an exacting eye, songs like 'Beer and Kisses' and 'Just Someone I Had in Mind' measure the distance between romance and reality."[16]

The Philadelphia Inquirer placed the album on the "short" list of "grown-up rock-and-roll records that examine monogamy with insight and intelligence."[17] Stereo Review deemed it "a cross between the Go-Go's, Buddy Holly, and a female cowpunk band."[18]

AllMusic wrote that "in addition to her knowing lyrical eye, Rigby is also a terrific composer who synthesizes elements of rock, country, folk and girl group-era pop."[11]