Jenny from Thebes began its life as many albums by the Mountain Goats do, with John Darnielle playing the piano until a lyric emerged. That lyric, Jenny was a warrior / Jenny was a thief / Jenny hit the corner clinic begging for relief, became Jenny III, a song which laid down a challenge hed never taken up before: writing a sequel to one of his most beloved albums.

The Mountain Goats catalog is thick with recurring charactersJenny, who originally appears in the All Hail West Texas track bearing her name, as well as in Straight Six from Jam Eater Blues and Transcendental Youth side two jam Night Light, is one of these, someone who enters a song unexpectedly, pricking up the ears of fans who are keen on continuing the various narrative threads running through