ROCKIN' with James "T-Model" Ford, 83-year-old (and bad-ass) bluesman

James Lewis Carter Ford, whose stage name is "T-Model Ford," was born in 1924 in Forest, Mississippi. He continues to tour, although he may be better known in the UK and Europe. This poster was designed by Matt Ferres for a UK gig later this month. T-Model's four albums are on the Fat Possum Records label.
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Here's what reviewer Brett Lemke (www.maximumink.com) had to say on the subject:
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"T-Model Ford has been through the mill more than once, and at 80+ is still working hard to get the dying message of the Mississippi hill country blues out to those who will listen. With his longtime drummer Spam, James "T-Model" Ford plays an endless boogie reflecting the hardships of being shot, stabbed, and poisoned. "Bad Man," his latest album, is a driving reflection both of a man who won't quit and his interpretation of the chaos around him
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"Featured with R.L. Burnside in the February, 2002 issue of the New Yorker magazine, T-Model and Spam are currently touring on Fat Possum's Mississippi Juke Joint Caravan. With more stamina than most young artists today, his style is reflective of artists like Lightnin' Hopkins and Howlin' Wolf but seems more stripped down and is always brutally honest. [Most] of the tracks on "Bad Man" are originals, produced live by Memphis legend Jim Dickinson. It's T-Model, his guitar, Spam and nothing else. T-Model doesn't complain here, it's just his way of saying that he learned the hard way. The album does not reflect a relic of the past nor does it want sympathy; it's an interpretation of a still-with-us bluesman that celebrates the will to keep going despite adversity of any kind."
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Reviewer "Docendo Discimus," also logging-in on Amazon, wrote, "[the album] includes a superbly eerie reading of "I Asked for Water (She Gave Me Gasoline)," originally recorded by Tommy Johnson [but made more widely known by Howlin' Wolf]. The arrangements are sparse to say the least, and, sure, I've heard albums with more stylistic and thematic variation, but it's just so great that someone still plays the blues this way, all raw and gritty."
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Also writing an opinion on the Amazon site, Gene Arlook had this to say: "I was at the Baltimore Blues Festival a few years back under a hot sun and full of whiskey (which is the only proper way to listen to the blues). The festival was for the most part okay. Nearing the end, everyone migrated over to the tent where "the man" was gonna play. The announcer stood up on the stage after T-Model had dragged himself up there and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the baddest man on the planet!" He wasn't lying."
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Many reviews opine that Ford is at best a competent guitarist, and his drummer, Spam, knows maybe two patterns. T-Model is known for "foot-stomping irrationality" and "whimsical violence," and much of his work "totters over a dizzy roadbed of drunken chords," but there are few musicians working today who can legitimally claim, as he can, that the scars around his ankles come from time spent on a chain gang for murder.
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You can find an excellent account of T-Model's trials and tribulations at www.fatpossum.com/artists/tmodel.html. Another excellent reference is the compilation of "Today's Delta Blues Musicians, found at www.cathead.biz/deltabluestoday.html, which includes "Mr. Tater The Music Maker" and the Razorblade Blues Band, both from Clarksdale, MS and "Cadillac John" from Cleveland, MS, among many, many others.
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UK postermaker Nick Rhodes also put it well, writing on www.gigposters.com, "Despite his intriguing past, T-Model is one of the nicest dudes I've met. When he played at the N&D, he worked his thing nonstop for two hours and thirty minutes. Not bad for an 83-year old man. His 21-year-old manager had to literally drag him off the stage."
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