jbone
1299 posts
Jul 17, 2013
1:31 AM
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T-Model Ford, a bluesman who overcame a long, troubled life to start playing music in his 50s, died earlier today in hospice care at his Greenville, Mississippi home after battling a respiratory illness. According to the AP, Ford's age is unknown due to a lack of proper records, though he was thought to be between 89 and 94.
Born James Lewis Carter Ford, he grew up with an abusive father, got married six times and supposedly fathered 26 children (his current wife, Estella, was by his side when he passed). Over his nine or so decades, he'd been shot, poisoned by a woman, stabbed by a wife, saw another spouse leave him for his dad, and served two years on a chain gang for stabbing a man to death in a bar fight. He picked up the guitar at 58 when his fifth wife gave him one — on the night she left him.
Ford taught himself to play, having never learned to read or write English, let alone music. After years of practicing, he toured Southern juke joints and eventually got the attention of Fat Possum founder Matthew Johnson, who put out five of Ford's albums beginning with 1997's Pee-Wee Get My Gun. Ford would go on to record his final two records, 2010's The Ladies Man and 2011's Taledragger, with the band GravelRoad, who also supported him on tour. Though he'd play as many as 150 shows a year, the past few were particularly rough on him, with a pair of strokes hampering his ability to perform.
"He was known as one of the last really authentic Mississippi blues men," his friend and blues historian Roger Stolle told the AP. "He has a story and could back it up."
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kudzurunner
4161 posts
Jul 17, 2013
4:54 AM
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He was a fine musician and a warm and memorable presence. Last time I saw him, he was playing a little restaurant here in Oxford--just him in a chair, with his guitar, and his grandson or great grandson playing drums. I think it was just a duo, although somebody might have been playing second guitar or bass. It had that SOUND. A magic groove that was the foundation of rock n' roll. It can't be packaged.
Roger Stolle is a friend and has done a lot for the blues, but I do wish that he would lay off with the "last of the authentic bluesmen" crap. They were saying that when Big Bill Broonzy died back in the late 1950s. It's bullshit, and unneeded.
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Hondo
218 posts
Jul 17, 2013
8:02 AM
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Adam, maybe end of an era would be more appropriate. I have fond memories of my time with the
"Chicken Head Man".
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Goldbrick
234 posts
Jul 17, 2013
10:24 AM
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T Model and his drummer Spam were the real thing. Blues the way I love it . Just play from the soul. His first couple of records were great fun. He will be missed.
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Rgsccr
183 posts
Jul 17, 2013
11:19 AM
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Sad. I never saw him in person but love the tunes I have of his like Sallie Mae (which just started), Red's Houseparty, and Feel So Bad. Real down home blues - my kind of music for sure.
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1847
924 posts
Jul 17, 2013
12:06 PM
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so i am checking the local blues magazine, the calender section
let's see if there are any authentic bluesmen playing this month
the black tongue bells, one of my favorite local bands
i will be going to see them they are fantastic!
but authentic blues ? hmm not so sure
but thats ok, the santa barbara blues society put on a show... albert lee
another great player, however authentic blues man? not so sure
friday august 2 nd i can catch canned heat with alvin lee
and ten years after. alvin lee was a hero to me when i was a kid
but authentic blues man hmm...besides he's dead
how are they planning to pull that one off...maybe the can borrow the canned heat guitar player to fill in... oh wait he's dead also
perhaps we are getting to the end of authentic blues men.
at least billy branch is coming to town soon,looking forward to that
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third times a charm!
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snakes
704 posts
Jul 17, 2013
3:30 PM
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I was lucky enough to see T-Model Ford at a small bar here in Seattle called the Comet with Gravel Road a few years ago . I received the tip thanks to Dan Nash who I think goes by the MBH moniker of Blackbird. He played the night seated in a chair smiling and sipping out of a bottle of Jack Daniels. I must admit he had the sound. Howlin Mad Perry reminded me of that sound when I saw him at the first Hill Country Harmonica event. There weren't always 12 bars to be follwed, but the band managed admirably and the songs did not suffer due to the aberrations in the structure. May his family be condoled and may he rest in peace.
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snakes in Snohomish
Last Edited by snakes on Jul 17, 2013 3:30 PM
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jbone
1300 posts
Jul 17, 2013
7:07 PM
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Adam, those were not my words about "the last of". I personally believe there are new authentic bluesman and women being grown every day and more coming what with how this culture is self destructing.
I got to see T Model in front of the o0ld shell of a theater in Cdale "across the tracks" from downtown. He as absolutely mesmerising.
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MP
2840 posts
Jul 18, 2013
11:53 AM
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From 1847-
"friday august 2 nd i can catch canned heat with alvin lee
and ten years after. alvin lee was a hero to me when i was a kid
but authentic blues man hmm...besides he's dead
how are they planning to pull that one off...maybe the can borrow the canned heat guitar player to fill in... oh wait he's dead also"
LOVE IT! that observation alone was worth logging on this morning. Thanx! :-)
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MP
affordable reed replacement and repairs.
"making the world a better place, one harmonica at a time"
click user name [MP] for info-
repair videos on YouTube.
you can reach me via Facebook. Mark Prados
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kudzurunner
4163 posts
Jul 18, 2013
12:16 PM
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@jbone: Please reread what I wrote. I'm quite clearly responding to Roger Stolle's words. That's why I make a point of saying that he's a friend of mine. Nothing I said was directed at you.
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1847
929 posts
Jul 18, 2013
7:28 PM
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mp you are easily entertained
perhaps i should send you a few harps to work on
idle hands are the devils workshop.
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third times a charm!
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jbone
1302 posts
Jul 19, 2013
4:16 AM
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No worries Adam!
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