Jenny from Thebes

Jenny from Thebes
Released	October 27, 2023
Length	39:48
Label	Merge Records
Producer	Trina Shoemaker

Jenny from Thebes is the 21st studio album by the Mountain Goats.

Tracks

1. "Clean Slate"
2. "Ground Level"
3. "Only One Way"
4. "Fresh Tattoo"
5. "Cleaning Crew"
6. "Murder at the 18th St. Garage"
7. "From the Nebraska Plant"
8. "Same as Cash"
9. "Water Tower"
10. "Jenny III"
11. "Going to Dallas"
12. "Great Pirates"

All lyrics/music by John Darnielle unless otherwise noted.

Personnel

• Played by Alicia Bognanno, John Darnielle, Matt Douglas, Peter Hughes, and Jon Wurster, joined by Matt Nathanson and Kathy Valentine. Arrangements for strings and horns by Matt Douglas; strings played by Karen Galvin. Trombone by Evan Ringel.

Comments by John Darnielle About this Album

The Mountain Goats’ catalog is thick with recurring characters—Jenny, 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 the Mountain Goats’ discography before vanishing into the mist. In these songs, Jenny is largely defined by her absence, and she is given that definition by other characters. She is running from something. These features are beguiling, both to the characters who’ve told her story so far and to the listener. They invite certain questions: Who is Jenny, really? What is she running from? Well, she’s a warrior and a thief, and, this being an album by the Mountain Goats, it’s a safe bet whatever she’s fleeing is something bad. Something catastrophically bad.

Jenny from Thebes is the story of Jenny, her southwestern ranch style house, the people for whom that house is a place of safety, and the west Texas town that is uncomfortable with its existence. It is a story about the individual and society, about safety and shelter and those who choose to provide care when nobody else will.

-- Bandcamp

Notes

• Recorded January 16–22, 2023, at the Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Produced, Recorded and Mixed by Trina Shoemaker, assisted by Isaiah Page and Cade Roberts. Mastered by Brent Lambert.