The T-Bones were an American, Liberty Records recording group, existing from 1963 to 1966.[1] The studio recordings of all of their albums but the last were done by American session musicians, The Wrecking Crew.
They should not be confused with Gary Farr's British mid-1960s band of the same name.[1] In Britain, the name "U.S. T-Bones" was used for the Liberty Records group.[2]
When the T-Bones had a hit in 1966 with the single "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)", Liberty Records quickly recorded an album of the same name using session musicians from The Wrecking Crew, but those musicians were not willing to go on tour to promote the album. They were making sufficient money doing sessions in Los Angeles. So Liberty created a different "public" T-Bones group to appear on record covers, TV, and in concert. The "public" T-Bones were Judd Hamilton, Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, Tommy Reynolds, and Gene Pello.[3] None of them played on the hit record, nor did they play on the next album, Sippin' and Chippin'. However, the "public" T-Bones did record the T-Bones' final album, Everyone's Gone To The Moon (And Other Trips). Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, and Tommy Reynolds later formed the 1970s soft rock trio Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds.[4][5]
"No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)" was based on the melody from a commercial for Alka-Seltzer.[1] The tune reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] and its follow-up, "Sippin N Chippin", peaked at No. 62;[1] the accompanying album hit No. 75 on the Billboard 200.
