View source for T-Model Ford

{{For|the motor vehicle|Ford Model T}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| image               = TModelFord TeaBazaar 20100301.jpg
| caption             = T-Model Ford at Tea Bazaar in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]], on March 1, 2010
| image_size          = 220
| name                = T-Model Ford
| background          = solo_singer
| birth_name          = James Lewis Carter Ford
| alias               =
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1923|6|24}} <small>(probable)</small>
| birth_place         = [[Forest, Mississippi]], [[United States]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2013|7|16|1923|6|24}}
| death_place         = [[Greenville, Mississippi]], United States
| instrument          = [[Guitar]], [[vocals]]
| genre               = [[Blues]]
| occupation          = Musician, singer
| years_active        = 1997&ndash;2013
| label               = [[Fat Possum Records|Fat Possum]], [[Alive Naturalsound Records|Alive Naturalsound]]
| past_member_of     = Gravelroad
| website             =
}}
'''James Lewis Carter Ford''' (June 24, 1923<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues - A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=117 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref>&nbsp;– July 16, 2013) was an American [[blues]] musician who performed under the name '''T-Model Ford'''.<ref name="AMG"/> He began his musical career in his early seventies and continuously recorded for the [[Fat Possum Records|Fat Possum]] record [[record label|label]] before eventually moving to [[Alive Naturalsound Records]]. His musical style combined the rawness of [[Delta blues]]<ref name="AMG">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/t-model-ford-mn0000656822/biography |title=Biography by Richard Skelly |website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=October 20, 2011}}</ref> with [[Chicago blues|Chicago]] and [[juke joint blues]] styles.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2011-02-03/music/t-model-ford/ |newspaper=[[Phoenix New Times]] |title=T-Model Ford @ The Rhythm Room |last=Ventre |first=Sarah |date=2011-02-03 |access-date=2011-10-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.ameriblues.com/2011/02/10/t-model-fords-taledragger-cd-review/ |journal=American Blues News |date=2011-02-10 |last=Blake |first=J |title=T-Model Ford's Taledragger, CD Review |access-date=2011-10-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news| issn = 0190-8286| title = CD review: T-Model Ford's 'The Ladies Man'| newspaper= [[The Washington Post]]| access-date = 2011-10-21| date = 2010-02-26| url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022502014.html| last = Jenkins| first = Mark}}</ref>
==Biography==
Ford was born in [[Forest, Mississippi]] between 1921 and 1925.<ref name=fatpossum.com>{{cite web|url=http://www.fatpossum.com/artists/t-model-ford |title=Artists » T-Model Ford &#124; Fat Possum Records |publisher=Fatpossum.com |access-date=2013-03-17}}</ref> Although some researchers claim that Ford was born on June 24, 1923,<ref name="bare"/> at the time of his death his record company gave his age as 94, suggesting that he was born in either 1918 or 1919.<ref name=fatpossumdeath/> Conversely, Ford's passport stated that his date of birth as June 24, 1921, while his Mississippi driver's license read that he was born on June 27, 1924.
Ford's father was an abusive figure and severely injured his son at age eleven. Ford claims that he survived a succession violent home environments, towards which he later expressed his indifference.<ref name="deltaforce">{{Cite news| last = Grant| first = Richard| title = Delta Force| work = The Observer| access-date = October 16, 2011| date = November 16, 2003| url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/nov/16/popandrock2| location=London}}</ref>
Ford, who was illiterate, began working various [[blue collar]] jobs before he was a teenager, which included plowing fields and working in a sawmill. He was later employed as a foreman at a lumber company before becoming a truck driver. Around this time, Ford was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for murder and served on a [[chain gang]]. By some accounts, Ford was able to reduce his sentence to only two years.<ref name="fatpossum.com" /> Following his release, Ford reportedly had several other run-ins with law enforcement.
Later, Ford lived in [[Greenville, Mississippi]] and for a period and wrote an advice column for ''[[Arthur (magazine)|Arthur]]'' magazine. He is thought to have fathered at least twenty-six children.<ref name="deltaforce" /><ref name="nyorker" />
According to the music critic [[Will Hodgkinson]], who met and interviewed Ford for his book ''Guitar Man'', Ford took up the guitar when his fifth wife left him and gave him the instrument as a farewell present. Ford taught himself how to play without being able to read sheet music or guitar tabs. Hodgkinson observed that Ford could not explain his technique: he had simply worked out a way of playing that sounded like the guitarists he admired, including [[Muddy Waters]] and [[Howlin' Wolf]].
Ford toured [[juke joint]]s and other venues and for a while opened for [[Buddy Guy]].<ref name="AMG" /> In 1995, he was discovered by Matthew Johnson of [[Fat Possum Records]],<ref name="nyorker">McInerney, Jay. "White man at the door; one man's mission to record the 'dirty blues'&nbsp;— before everyone dies." ''[[The New Yorker]]'', February 4, 2002: 54+. Academic OneFile. October 17, 2011.</ref> through whose label he would release five [[album]]s between 1997 and 2008.
In 1997, Ford was featured in documentary entitled ''Juke'', directed by Mary Flannery, appearing alongside his fellow musicians Farmer John and John Horton. After 2008, Ford largely performed with the [[Seattle]]-based [[musical ensemble|band]] GravelRoad. Their collaboration was originally intended as a one-off event with Ford looking for backing musicians at the Deep Blues Festival in [[Minnesota]]. GravelRoad, who were longtime fans of Ford, subsequently supported Ford on a ten-show [[concert tour|tour]].
Ford had a [[pacemaker]] inserted at the end of 2008, but appeared on stage again with GravelRoad in both 2009 and 2010, after which Ford suffered a [[stroke]]. Despite experiencing difficulty with the mobility of his right hand, Ford played several more shows with GravelRoad that year, culminating with an appearance at the Pickathon Festival. Ford and GravelRoad later opened the third day of the [[All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|All Tomorrow's Parties Festival]] held in New York over [[Labor Day]] weekend in 2010, curated by American independent filmmaker [[Jim Jarmusch]].
GravelRoad backed Ford on his 2010 and 2011 albums, ''The Ladies Man'' and ''Taledragger'', both of which were released on [[Alive Naturalsound Records]]. Ford eventually suffered a second stroke in the summer of 2012 that severely limited his public appearances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cathead.biz/CatHead/Music_Calendar.html |title=Music Calendar |publisher=Cathead.biz |access-date=2013-03-17 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016173157/http://www.cathead.biz/CatHead/Music_Calendar.html |archive-date=2011-10-16 }}</ref> Despite his declining health, Ford performed at that year's [[King Biscuit Blues Festival]] in October.
On July 16, 2013, Fat Possum announced that Ford had died at home in Greenville due to respiratory failure after a prolonged illness.<ref name="fatpossumdeath">{{cite web|url=https://fatpossum.com/news/333 |title=R.I.P. T-Model Ford &#124; Fat Possum Records |publisher=Fatpossum.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718160903/https://fatpossum.com/news/333 |access-date=2013-07-16|archive-date=2013-07-18 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/07/16/t-model-ford-dies/2521951/ |title=Blues singer/guitarist 'T-Model' Ford dies |publisher=Usatoday.com |date= 2013-07-16|access-date=2013-07-16}}</ref> The [[Mount Zion Memorial Fund]] organized the placement of a headstone for Ford at Green Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery, near Greenville. The ceremony was on May 31, 2014. Ford's gravestone was designed by Amos Harvey and engraved by Alan Orlicek.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thelocalvoice.net/oxford/grave-marker-dedication-for-james-t-model-ford-on-saturday-may-31-in-greenville-mississippi/|title=Grave Marker Dedication for James "T-Model" Ford on Saturday, May 31 in Greenville, Mississippi|website=Thelocalvoice.net|date=27 May 2014 |access-date=March 1, 2021}}</ref>
==Discography==
* ''[[Pee-Wee Get My Gun]]'' - 1997 ([[Fat Possum Records|Fat Possum]])
* ''You Better Keep Still'' - 1999 (Fat Possum)
* ''She Ain't None of Your'n'' - 2000 (Fat Possum)
* ''Bad Man'' - 2002 (Fat Possum)
* ''Don't Get Out Talkin' It'' - 2008 (Fat Possum)
* ''Jack Daniel Time'' - 2008 (Mudpuppy)
* ''The Ladies Man'' - 2010 ([[Alive Naturalsound Records|Alive Naturalsound]])
* ''Taledragger'' - 2011 (Alive Naturalsound)<ref name="AMG"/>
* ''I Was Born In A Swamp'' - 2021 (Alive Naturalsound)<ref name="AMG"/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.fatpossum.com/artists/t-model-ford T-Model Ford page] from Fat Possum Records site
*[http://www.alive-totalenergy.com/x/?page_id=1054 T-Model Ford page] from Alive Naturalsound Records site
*{{IMDb name|1359537}}
*[http://www.bluesinlondon.com/live/t-model_ford.html London gig review April 2007]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/19981206084222/http://www.deltablues.net/tree98.html interview with T Model Ford]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/musictv/guitars/video/tmodelford/ T Model Ford video on BBC]
*[https://archive.today/20130421074433/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3664623/I-killed-a-man,-then-I-learnt-the-blues.html Interview]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, T-Model}}
[[Category:1920s births]]
[[Category:2013 deaths]]
[[Category:American blues guitarists]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:Fat Possum Records artists]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi]]
[[Category:People from Forest, Mississippi]]
[[Category:Alive Naturalsound Records artists]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Mississippi]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:Delta blues musicians]]
[[Category:African-American guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]
[[Category:21st-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male singers]]