T Shirt is a 1976 album by Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Wainwright III

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche, brother of Sloan Wainwright, and the former husband of the late folk singer Kate McGarrigle.To...

. Unlike his earlier records, this (and the subsequent 'Final Exam') saw Wainwright adopt a full blown rock band (Slowtrain) - though there are acoustic songs on T-Shirt

T-shirt

A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....

, including a talking blues

Talking blues

Talking blues is a form of country music. It is characterized by rhythmic speech or near-speech where the melody is free, but the rhythm is strict....

. Nevertheless it had the misfortune to arrive on the scene at the same time as punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, making it immediately dated in the eyes of many critics. According to Wainwright on the 2006 CD liner notes, it received a scathing review from Rolling Stone Magazine which depressed him so much he stayed in bed for five days. By the early 1990s he disowned the album in a radio interview broadcast in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. However, by the time of the CD remaster (which included Final Exam) he admitted to a much more sympathetic view of the album(s), which he referred to as his 'puppies'.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Loudon Wainwright III; except where indicated

1. "Bicentennial"
2. "Summer's Almost Over"
3. "Hollywood Hopeful"
4. "Reciprocity"
5. "At Both Ends"
6. "Wine with Dinner"
7. "Hey Packy" (George Gerdes)
8. "California Prison Blues"
9. "Talking Big Apple '75"
10. "Prince Hal's Dirge"
11. "Just Like President Thieu"
12. "Wine with Dinner (Night Cap)"

Personnel

• Loudon Wainwright III - guitar, vocals
• Richard Davis - bass
• Hank Jones - keyboards
• David Sanborn
  David Sanborn
  David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
  
   - saxophone
• Marvin Stamm
  Marvin Stamm
  Marvin Stamm is an American bebop trumpeter.Stamm began on trumpet at age 12. He first attended college at, then known as, Memphis State University and then attended college at North Texas State University where he was a member of the world renowned One O'Clock Lab Band...
  
   - horn
• Jimmy Maelen - conductor
• Elliott Randall
  Elliott Randall
  Elliott Randall is an American guitarist, most known for being a session musician with popular artists. Randall has played the well-known guitar solos from Steely Dan's hit "Reelin' in the Years" and Fame. Legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page has reputedly said that Randall's solo on...
  
   - guitar
• David Taylor - trombone
• Eric Weissberg
  Eric Weissberg
  Eric Weissberg is an American banjo player, best known for the theme from the movie Deliverance.-Biography:Eric Weissberg went to the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then the Juilliard School of Music. He joined an early version of the Greenbriar Boys , but left before they made any recordings....
  
   - banjo
• Charlie Brown - guitar
• Jeanie Arnold - vocals
• Jon Cobert - vocals
• Joe Cocuzzo - drums
• Kenny Kosek - violin
• Richard Crooks - drums
• John Crowder - bass
• Ron Getman - steel guitar
• Don Hammond - recorder
• Peter Labarbera - background vocals
• John Lissauer - clarinet
• George Marge - recorder
• Irwin "Marky" Markowitz - horn
• Charlie Messing - guitar, vocals
• Gwynne Michaels - vocals
• Glen Mitchell - keyboards, vocals
• Paul Prestopino, Maggie & Terre Roche - vocals
• Christie Thompson - vocals
• Stephen Tubin - keyboards
• Joanne Vent - vocals

Release history

• LP: Arista AL4063 (U.S.)
• LP: Arista RTY127 (UK)
• CD: Arcadia ACAD 8142 (2 CD with Final Exam (U.S. 2007)