The Story on the Cover Art
see the home page for photo

 My wife and I have a great little burrito joint not far from where we live. They serve a New Mexico burrito, which is to say that they use alot of those great green chiles in their sauce on an otherwise pretty much "just like any other state in the union" burrito. Anyway, these are some tasty burritos.

So one Sunday morning we found ourselves there quite early as I had just picked Victoria up from an midnight flight back from Texas. We got a little table at this burrito place- it seats about 25 people at best- and were having breakfast when Victoria started nudging my arm. "Take a look at that guy's arm", she kept saying. It was hard to get me to divert my attention from the burrito, but once I did I was just as amazed as she was.

On this gentleman's arm was the tattoo that is on the cover of this CD, and on the disc itself. The tattoo is of the Vietnam Service ribbon. As you can see from the artwork, the years tattooed underneath are 68-69. Now if you go to the lyrics page of this web site you will see that the opening lyric of "The Ballad Of Billy Saigon" refers to the year 1968. We were both saying to ourselves, "that guy could be Billy Saigon!"

That "guy" turned out to be Ray Hoskinson. Ray is and was obviously a Vietnam Vet, but he does much more. He is part of two groups, the Patriot Guard Riders, and the Veterans of Vietnam Motorcycle Club. Their web sites are listed on the back of the CD. The day we met him he was doing what it is he does in conjunction with these two organizations, which was to ride out and meet some returning veterans when they got off the airplane.

I was especially moved by this as I recalled the original welcome the Vietnam Veterans received upon their return home from combat.

We told Ray about the recording we were making and that we wanted to photograph his arm. He agreed, and Victoria took a photo of his arm right there in front of the burrito joint. Some weeks later, when I had mixed the song I sent him an email of the tune and told him that unless he felt the story in the song demonstrated honor and respect to the Veteran portrayed in its lyrics, that I would not use his arm as artwork. His generous response regarding the song and the impact it made on him enabled us to include his arm as the main focal point of the image for the cover. We support Ray and his efforts to welcome home the young men and women who have served our country.

The dog tag on the cover was Victoria's idea, and we found a place to make up one. It was way too shiny and new, so she creatively managed to "age" it a bit so we could put it on the cover for the title of the CD.

Just to set the record straight, the character Billy Saigon in the title song is a composite of a number of people I have met over the years. So while Ray's tattoo fit the timeline of the song perfectly, we in no way want to imply that he is actually the same character described in the song. His story, like the stories of so many other Vets I have known over the years, belongs to him, and the telling of it is entirely his business. We respect his journey as well as his privacy regarding his experiences.

The "Ballad of Billy Saigon" is intended as a song of healing and respect, as are most all of the songs on this CD. Without comparing, nor diminishing the sacrifices and efforts of our combat veterans it is safe to say that we are all carrying wounds of some sort as we get along through this process of living, and the songs on this project do their best to address those wounds in a way that hopefully the human spirit can relate to.

Wes Hamil- 2007

About The Players

The Ballad of Billy Saigon" CD features the following artists:

 Albert Lee- Guitar. Albert has spent the last few years touring with his own band in Euorpe after years with the  Everly Brothers. One of the world's preeminent guitarists, Albert has toured and recorded with Eric Clapton and Emmylou Harris and a long list of others.

Stephen Bruton- Guitar. Bruton was well known as a producer for artists such
as Hal Michael Ketchum and for his own solo work. He was Kris
Kristofferson's guitarist before becoming Bonnie Raitt's musical
director and guitarist during her late 80's Grammy spree. Before his passing he cowrote much of the music for the Academy award winning film Crazy Heart with T-Bone Burnett, with whom he was a longtime friend and collaborator.

Gary Bolen- Guitars, Bass. Gary is another one of those rockin' Texas guitar
players, even if he is from Mississippi.

David Palmer- Drummer. David currently tours with Rod Stewart, having
spent time in ABC.

 Tony Sales- Bass. Tony was a founding member of David Bowie's Tin
Machine, and was also bassist for Iggy Pop.

Paul Landsittel- Mandolin. A longtime Colorado bluegrass and folk
performer.

Marc Goodman- Organ. Marc has toured with Taj Mahal and Sister Sledge
 among others.

Dana Walden- Organ, Piano. Dana is a hit songwriter and founding member
of the group Champaign, which scored a million seller with the Dana
penned tune "How Bout Us".

Lee Ann Harris- Percussion. Lee Ann is a versatile jazz musician whose
touring credits include Toni Childs.

Justin Walden- Drums, Percussion. A recording artist whose
drumming and programming work has been a part of multiplatinum
records by Korn, Orgy and Seven Dust.

Chris Lawrence- Pedal Steel. Chris is a veteran of the road, and founder of
the seminal LA country rock outfit the Neon Angels.

 Nathalie Archangel- Vocals. Former MCA recording artist and songwriter
whose work includes covers by Bette Midler.

Victoria Beaufort Hamil- Harmonica, Vocals. Victoria is a top rate session
player, and her work has been featured in scores for CBS Movies, television
specials and commercials worldwide. Her recordings include tracks with
Johnny Cash, Roy Rogers, Robert Altman, Hans Zimmer and others.

Wes Hamil- Veteran Songwriter who has written with Oscar winner Paul
Williams, among others. On this recording he played Acoustic Guitars, bass,
percussion, "lesliecaster" and vocals.

Project Info

 This project was recorded on a variety of different machines in a number of different locations. Some songs were recorded on an old Fostex 1/2 inch analog tape machine, later transferred to ADAT, then finally ported over to aif files and place in Logic. Other songs were recorded in a spare bedrooms or basements on an original Roland VS880. Still others were recorded directly into a PC running Logic.

Some songs, like "Orphans" were recorded live as they were composed. Others took shape as players were available and could drop by to lay down tracks.

There were a variety of mics employed, ranging from mics found at yard sales to a few moderately priced tube mics, though we did end up using the amazing Avantone CR14 ribbon mic.

Ultimately, once the project was recorded, came the challenge of getting so many tunes recorded under so many different conditions to blend together into one project. All the tunes were loaded into a Mac G5 with a UAD audio card and a Motu 828 mkii interface. The tunes were mixed and pre mastered on the Mac in Logic and using T-Racks and then the final project remastering was done at Private Studios by Jonathan Pines.