After co-writing the Mickey Gilley hit "I'm the One Mama Warned You About" (credited as Gayle Zeiler), she found success as a performer through the band Ethel & The Shameless Hussies, with whom she released her first album.

[2][3] Jones found initial success recording with an independent label in San Francisco before moving to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1986.

Jones moved to Nashville with expectations of being signed to a major record label as a serious singer-songwriter rather than writing humorous works.

The album featured artists such as Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel, and Lyle Lovett performing songs by Friedman, and it went on to reach the number 1 spot on the Americana radio chart in 1999.

Other albums by Jones were to follow on her own label, IGO Records including Every Man I Love Is Either Married, Gay or Dead (2000),[11] (produced after completing the project with Kinky Friedman),[12] Never Wear Panties to a Party (2001), "The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Box of Music" (2003), "Nipples to the Wind" (2007), and the more recent Donald Trump's Hair (2009).