Mitch Hayes – “Belly of the Beast”
Americana Highways is hosting this premiere of Mitch Hayes’ song “Belly of the Beast” from his forthcoming album Gentle Man, slated for release in June. Gentle Man was produced and engineered by Paul Demer, with some string arrangement by Paul and Tom Demer. It was mixed and mastered by Chris Bethea in Minneapolis.
“Belly of the Beast” is Mitch Hayes on lead vocals, acoustic guitars and percussion; Paul Demer on acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, and background vocals; Erin Hayesoweth on background vocals, flute, and distorted flute; Logan Bowers on drums and percussion; Ben Grace on organ; Nathan Shores on cello; Aaron Fabbrini on pedal steel; and
Tom Demer and Melanie Demer on violin and viola.
“Welcome to hell, in the belly of the beast.” Yeah, that’s intense. This growly, Tom Waits-like arrangement is murky and formidable and a powerful wake-up call. “Hear the children crying ‘please make it go away’…. …I don’t need to tell you this is war.” This song was written during the dark days of COVID, but it could be for the children of Ukraine or analogous to so very much more going on in the world.
I wrote this song in the early days of the COVID pandemic. In 2017, I retired from a 40 plus year career as a Respiratory Therapist to focus on the true love of my life, music and being a songwriter and performer. When COVID shut everything down, I came out of retirement to help. This song focuses on the pandemic from the viewpoint of the healthcare workers who gave their all, some of them quite literally, to take care of those who were sick and dying from the disease. It was a dark time. – Mitch Hayes
Find the music here: http://www.MitchHayesMusic.com