Linda Draper Calls Out Pandemic Hypocrisy in Acoustic Version of ‘Tether’ [EXCLUSIVE]

Brooklyn-based antifolk musician Linda Draper makes a scathing retort in the acoustic version of "Tether," the closing track for her upcoming album Patience and Lipstick.

"They keep speaking in their crooked tongues, trying to sell me the idea we’re all in this together," she sings of disorganized media and political messaging in the face of inaction to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. "I beg to differ."

"I wrote it at the beginning of the pandemic," Draper explains of the song's blunt tone. "I was disgusted with how we were suddenly barraged with insincere messages."

Evoking the righteous political folk storytelling of Joan Baez, the song is a powerful testament to the frustration and mourning many people have experienced throughout the pandemic. Over building fingerstyle guitar and a barebones backing fiddle, Draper's voice takes center stage to express exactly how she feels.

The retro inspirations of Patience and Lipstick are also on display in Draper's cover of the 1972 Barbara Kieth classic "Detroit or Buffalo," which she says she was drawn to as soon as producer and former Tanya Tucker bandmate Jeff Eyrich showed her the track.

“Barbara’s voice, and the message in her lyrics, are timeless, raw, and fearlessly vulnerable," she notes.

Patience and Lipstick will be released on January 21 via South Forty Records, Draper's own label, which she founded and named after an area of Montana where her mother's family have owned a ranch since the 1930s. You can find out more information about Linda Draper, her music and upcoming tour schedule via her official website.