Zoe FitzGerald Carter “Lying Voices”
Americana Highways presents this premiere of Zoe FitzGerald Carter’s song “Lying Voices” from her forthcoming album, which was produced by Jeffrey Wood, engineered and mixed by Alberto Hernandez, and mastered by Nathan James. “Lying Voices” was recorded at The Plant in Sausalito and at Fantasy Records in Berkeley.
“Lying Voices” is Zoe FitzGerald Carter on lead vocals and guitar; Vicki Randle on background vocals; Michael Papenburg on lead guitar; Paul Olguin on bass; Dawn Richardson on drums.
Zoe tells us this about the song: “Okay, trigger warning — ‘Lying Voices’ was written after the 2024 election and it is an entirely political song. Call it a protest song. Hate it or love it, you’ve been forewarned.
“The fact is, the election was a dark time for the millions of Americans who believed Donald Trump was entirely unfit for office the first time. To us, he was a wannabe autocrat, a grifter, and a chronic liar. And as a former journalist, I was especially dismayed by the way right wing media systematically and relentlessly amplified his lies, essentially turning themselves into an arm of the regime. Social media influencers and podcasters did the same, unfettered by guard rails on platforms like X, conveniently purchased by Elon Musk.
“As the noted fascism scholar Hannah Arendt once said, “If everybody always lies to you, the consequences is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.” And this is a tried and true technique of fascistic regimes. Iit strips people of their capacity to reason or resist.
“So while many factors led to the 2024 election — including huge failures on the part of the Democrats — the lying by the media was, to my mind, at the center of it and that is the essence of Lying Voices. And of course we are now living the consequences of all those lies and broken promises. I don’t think anyone knowingly voted to make the economy worse, to invade Venezuela, to dismantle important humanitarian government agencies, or send masked goons into American cities to harass, arrest and murder American citizens. And I can’t imagine anyone is cheering as Trump blatantly uses the office for personal financial gain.
“But in addition to calling out the liars, I also want to acknowledge and applaud the resistors. (“Can you hear us? So many voices and we’re saying the same thing. You may be president but to us you’re just a joker and a wannabe king.”) The brave people standing up to ICE and demonstrating peacefully in the streets are our modern-day heroes. It is to them that I dedicate this video: the artists, organizers and regular citizens putting themselves on the line to protest this regime. They are our best hope for the future of this country and of the world.”
Zoe shares with us a lament, here, over the lying voices that are speaking directly to far too many people: “We thought we had the facts that we needed,” and she asks, “why did they believe those lying voices?” With this, Zoe adds her voice of truth and honest perspective to those still believing the actual facts can be heard. Something that seemed so simple and reasonable not too terribly long ago.
You can save and order the song here: https://show.co/YZpuqNn
Enjoy some of our previous coverage here: REVIEW: Zoe FitzGerald Carter “Before the Machine”
https://zoefcarter.bandcamp.com/track/lying-voice