Singer, Songwriter, journalist, and memoirist Zoe FitzGerald Carter has announced that she will release her fourth full-length album, Chaos By Design, on October 28, 2026. The twelve songs on Chaos by Design are “akin to vignettes from a dream.” The eleven original Americana, Jazz, and Folk infused songs are joined by the artist’s interpretation of Gerry and the Pacemakers’ “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying.” The songwriter will celebrate the release with her band on October 28, 2026, at Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley, CA.
Chaos By Design was recorded at The Plant in Sausalito (now 2200 Bridgeway) and at Ninth Street Opus and Fantasy Records in Berkeley. Produced by Jeffrey Wood, former head of Fantasy Studios, and recorded by sound engineer Alberto Hernandez, the album features Bay Area players including Dawn Richardson (4 Non Blondes) on drums, Paul Olguin (Maria Muldaur) on bass, and Michael Papenburg (Petty Theft) on electric guitar, lap steel and mandolin.
Pam Delgado (Blame Sally) provides backup vocals, Greg Sankovitch plays piano and organ, Dan Cantrell plays accordion, and Erik “Mr Tasty” Jakobson plays trumpet. Founder of the Black Banjo Reclamation Project Hannah Mayree plays banjo on two tracks and will be joining Zoe at Sweetwater Music Hall.
Carter shares:
Writing the songs on this album, I found myself talking with ghosts and coyotes (Cicadas, Ghost, White Coyote), escaping into a mythological paradise (Arcadia), and returning to the sepia-tinged world of childhood and adolescence (Pirates in the Woods, Sarah).
The title track, Chaos by Design, arrived with more urgency, asking me to consider some deeply uncomfortable questions like: Am I living my best life? Am I wasting my talent and my time? But what started with existential panic quickly turned to radical self-acceptance (‘If you told me I could be anyone, I’d still be me’).
Although Chaos by Design is driving and percussive, the rest of the album has a laid-back, folk/Americana feel and there is a little bit of that open chord, Laurel Canyon feel on some of the tracks (Sarah, White Coyote).
Swimming Pool and Breathe Again dip a toe into jazz, and I fell in love with the gentle bossa nova style of Gerry and the Pacemakers’ song Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying. But within all these songs is the same yearning — to find meaning and beauty in an increasingly chaotic world. To highlight moments that make the general messiness and challenges of life feel worthwhile.
Zoe FitzGerald Carter Live:
October 15, 2026
Zoe FitzGerald Carter & Jason Luckett at Artichoke in Portland, Oregon @ 7:00 PM Portland, OR, United States
October 28, 2026
Album Release Show at Sweetwater in Mill Valley, w/Hannah Mayree
@ 8:00 PM Mill Valley, CA, United States
