Child actors have a low success rate when it comes to transitioning into adult actors, but they seem to have a slightly better chance if they slide into the adjacent performing art of singing. Especially if they shield themselves within the relative anonymity — and authenticity — of a band.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, you could see Jenny Lewis — instantly recognizable for her dark red hair and precocious acting skills — all over the television, appearing in a number of commercials and guesting on highly-rated shows like Murder, She Wrote and Golden Girls. But she’s probably best known by people of a certain age for her two 1989 major motion pictures, Troop Beverly Hills (co-starring with Shelley Long) and The Wizard (co-starring with fellow child actor Fred Savage).

In the late 90’s, Lewis decided to take a break from acting to form a band with her then-boyfriend, Blake Sennett, and the newly formed group released their first full-length album as Rilo Kiley in 2001. For their first few years, the band mined an indie country-rock sound, but by the time of 2004’s More Adventurous, they began to shed their more overt country influences. Echoes remained, however, in the pedal steel guitars and the storytelling of a song like “A Man/Me/Then Jim.”

Is there a story behind the storytelling? Not that I know of. It’s simply my favorite Rilo Kiley song. Maybe it’ll be yours, too.

Rilo Kiley released their final album in 2007 before the band went on hiatus. And after that they simply never stopped hiatusing. No official announcement of their break up arrived until 2014, by which time Jenny Lewis had embarked on a solo career, releasing multiple albums, but also occasionally sliding back into acting, particularly voice work. Managing to avoid the pitfalls of growing up in the entertainment world, Lewis remains a successful artist and an icon of 80’s nostalgia. Here she is being adventurous in the 2000’s: