Produced by: Jim Vallance and Bryan Adams
Arranged and conducted by: Peter Berring
Recorded by: Adam Greenholtz, Jim Vallance, Rob Nevalainen and Ryan Brubacher
Assisted by: Matthew Harvey and Brad Salter
Mixed by: Adam Greenholtz at The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver Canada
Mastered by: Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, Portland, Maine, USA

Recording locations:
• Empire Ballroom, Fairmont Hotel Macdonald, Edmonton, Alberta (June 18, 2012)
• The Warehouse Studio, Vancouver, British Columbia (August 1-2, 2013)
• Sturgeon Falls, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• Mustique

Angela Larson: solo voice
Brittany Hancock: solo voice

Bryan Adams: acoustic guitar
Jim Vallance: keyboards, percussion

The choir: Major Rachel Jetté, Captain Nancy Mandaher, Reena Mandaher, Sue Weir, Rebecca Schaub, Andrea L'abbe, Courtney Burke, Kimberly Schmidt, Amanda Lam, Lauri Darras, Kaleigh Struthers, Jennifer Shultz, Rachel Underhill, Kayla Miumra, Katherine Gould, Ashley Bryson, Monica Flink, Sylvia Moores, Jill Joseph, Jill Moore, Leana Meneer, Tayna Yetman, Cheryl Miller, Kim Devries, Megan Thompson, Janet Prouder, Natasha Quesnel, Marcie Beech

The band:  Frederica Panon, Malou Ignacio, Frederica Panon, Malou Ignacio, Bill Diamond, Sandra Perry, Aleta Caron, Jason Russell, Joseph Flack, David Munroe, Jen Phillips, Yukari Mametsuko, Mayumi Yoshida, Yukiko Mitsuda, Harry Peterson, Kay Ming Ng, Allan Dickson, Alice Evelyn Fox, Brian Smith, Mario Valdez, Timur Kalyuzhnyy, Bill Diamond, Sandra Perry, Aleta Caron, Jason Russell, Joseph Flack, David Munroe, Jen Phillips, Yukari Mametsuko, Mayumi Yoshida, Yukiko Mitsuda, Harry Peterson, Kay Ming Ng, Allan Dickson, Alice Evelyn Fox, Brian Smith, Mario Valdez, Timur Kalyuzhnyy.

In January 2011 Bryan was contacted by Adrienne Clarkson, the former Governor General for Canada and current Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Regiment. Adrienne asked Bryan to write a song to commemorate the regiment's 100th anniversary in 2014. Bryan kindly asked me to co-write the song with him. 

Researching the history of the regiment, one of the first things we noticed was the unusual name of the regiment's flag: the "Ric-A-Dam-Doo". It was odd-sounding at first -- actually, it's still odd sounding -- but the name grew on us to the point that we decided to call our song "Ric-A-Dam-Doo".

As work progressed over a period of weeks and months the song went through a number of changes. Among the considerations:  should it have a pop-rock sound (keyboards, guitars and drums), a military sound (brass and percussion), or a combination of the two? 

We also considered using bagpipes ... and we would have, if not for the fact that pipes are only capable of playing in the keys of D and A (I didn't know that!).  Our song was in the key of F, so unfortunately pipes were not an option (sorry Uncle Harry!).

There was another major change. Initially I'd envisioned the song sung by Bryan, with a choir of soldiers joining him in the chorus. But Bryan had a different idea. He suggested the soldiers' wives sing the song. We made a few adjustments to our lyric to accommodate the "wives" perspective, and that's the direction we took.

We began by recording a "basic track" on my laptop. With that in hand, Bryan and I travelled to Edmonton in June 2012 to record a choir of 25 "wives" at the Hotel McDonald .

The MacDonald is an elegant hotel, built in 1912 by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. The Empire Ballroom is visually stunning and acoustically reverberant, well suited for recording a choir ... but we were less successful recording the solo vocalists (too much echo in the room, something we didn't notice until the session was finished and we reviewed the audio).

So, in August 2013 Bryan arranged for Angela Larson and Brittany Hancock to travel to Vancouver to re-record their vocals at Bryan's Warehouse Studio. 

Considering they had no previous studio experience the two women sang beautifully. Between "takes" they told us about the joys and challenges faced by military families. In fact, at the time of the recording both their husbands were deployed in Afghanistan. Their stories were heartfelt and inspiring and made us think about our song in a different way.

Also recorded during the Vancouver session were the brass, woodwind and percussion instruments of the British Columbia Regiment band. The arrangement was scored by our long-time friend and colleague, Peter Berring, who also conducted the musicians.

Royalties from the song will be donated to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Foundation, a charitable organization that supports the families of wounded and fallen soldiers.

The song is available for purchases on iTunes.

You can also donate directly to the Princess Pat's Foundation: http://www.ppclifoundation.ca

On a personal / historical note:  the Princess Patricia's Regiment were the first Canadian "boots on the ground" in France during the First World War. They remained on the "front line" right to the war's end in November 1918. 

One of the last great battles in which they participated was the crossing of the Canal du Nord on September 27, 1918.  My great-uncle Jim Young, my grandmother's brother, fought in the same battle as a member of the 7th Battalion, British Columbia Regiment. He was killed shortly after crossing the canal and is buried near the village of Sains-les-Marquion.  The war ended six weeks later.