Moon Hut

Fox grew up in the New York City area, later moving to Bloomington, Indiana, where Moon Hut was recorded. All musicians featured on the album were native to Bloomington, with producer Paul Mahern also originating from the city. She told Billboard in 1997, "the combination of music school musos and the locals makes Bloomington a pretty amazing place. You can see great music about every night. And the atmosphere is so relaxed. Living here, I've gained a new respect for music with a real simplicity."^[3]

On the album, Fox was influenced by musical theater, as well as singer-songwriter and indie artists such as Liz Phair and Helium.^[4] It incorporates orchestral elements, including on the song "Bleed a Little Allison". The orchestral sound was inspired by the singer-songwriter Cindy Lee Berryhill, who Fox had seen live while in New York.^[4] For the album, Fox performed on piano, organ, vibraphone, glockenspiel, mellotron, concertina and acoustic guitar, and wrote all the string arrangements.^[5] The record was originally meant to have drumming from well-known session musicians such as Kenny Arnoff, with the drums done in Bloomington intended to be demo tracks for which the final drum tracks would be based on. However, Fox and Mahern decided to keep some of the original drum tracks since they were fans of the energy and vibe of them.

When the record was being made, Fox was in a relationship with Paul Mahern. Fox later recalled that, "a lot of the songs on there, when we recorded them, it would just be like him and I alone in the studio and it was very romantic and creative."^[4] Fox has labelled "Cowgirl's Lament" as her favorite track on the album. It was recorded during a thunderstorm in Bloomington, with these sounds being captured within the song itself.^[4]

The song "Jen" was written about a longtime friend of Fox, who said in 1998, "Jen, who hates being called Jen (which I do in the song for artistic license), has been a friend of mine since we were three. She is a very sensual, sexual person. She's an artist and a sculptor and a puppeteer. I wrote this song about her at a time when I was feeling really repressed. I looked at her as being someone who was free with her body and free in expression. At that time, I felt like I wasn't, so it was inspiring for me to break free and learn from her. A lot of people do take it as being either that I'm singing about a woman that I'm very attracted to or that it has more sexual connotations, which is perfectly fine. Why can't I admire another woman for being sensual and beautiful?".^[6]

It was originally scheduled to be released by DreamWorks on July 15, 1997,^[3] although it would end up being released on September 9, 1997.^[7] Shortly before the album's release, Fox performed at the inaugural edition of Lilith Fair, a festival centered around female artists. Fox has said that she felt starstruck since she was a fan of many of the artists who were performing at the event, including Beth Orton and Victoria Williams.^[4] Following the release of Moon Hut, Fox opened for Ben Folds Five during late 1997.^[8] In September 1998, she contributed a song called "The Murderess" to the DreamWorks compilation Songs of the Witchblade. The compilation was for the Image Comics series Witchblade.^[9]

In 2021, Geffen Records released the album to Spotify and other streaming services for the first time. Prior to this, only Fox's second independent album Return to Planet Earth had been available on streaming services. This was since the rights to Moon Hut remained with DreamWorks Records, who were absorbed into Geffen after folding in 2004.