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Biography
: For the motor vehicle, see Ford Model T BLP sources|date=December 2008Infobox musical artist| | image = TModelFordBluesman.jpg | image_size = 220 | name = T-Model Ford | background = solo_singer | birth_name = James Lewis Carter Ford | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = Forest, Mississippi , United States | death_date = | death_place = | instrument = Guitar , vocals | genre = Delta blues , juke joint blues , blues rock , electric blues | occupation = Musician, singer | years_active = 1997& ndash;present | label = Fat Possum Records|Fat Possum , Alive Naturalsound Records|Alive Naturalsound | associated_acts = Gravelroad | website = | notable_instruments =
James Lewis Carter Ford (born c. 1920, Forest, Mississippi , United States ) http://www.fatpossum.com/artists/t-model-ford Fatpossum.com is an United States|American blues musician, using the name T-Model Ford . Unable to remember his exact date of birth, he began his musical career in his early seventies, and has continuously recorded for the Fat Possum Records|Fat Possum record label|label , then switched to Alive Naturalsound Records . His musical style melds the rawness of Delta blues .cite web |first= |last= |url=Allmusic|class=artist|id=p207243/biography|pure_url=yes |title=Biography by Richard Skelly |publisher=Allmusic.com |accessdate=October 20, 2011 with Chicago blues and juke joint blues styles.cite news| url= http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2011-02-03/music/t-model-ford/ |newspaper= Phoenix New Times |section=Music |title=T-Model Ford @ The Rhythm Room |last=Ventre |first=Sarah |date=2011-02-03 |accessdate=2011-10-21cite journal| url= http://www.ameriblues.com/2011/02/10/t-model-fords-taledragger-cd-review/ |magazine=American Blues News |date=2011-02-10 |last=Blake |first=J |title=T-Model Ford’s Taledragger, CD Review |accessdate=2011-10-21Cite news| issn = 0190-8286| title = CD review: T-Model Ford's 'The Ladies Man'| work = The Washington Post | accessdate = 2011-10-21| date = 2010-02-26| url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/25/AR2010022502014.html| last = Jenkins| first = Mark
Life and career
According to records, Ford's year of birth is between 1921 and 1925. According to his half-sister (still alive in Tennessee), he was born in 1922.Citation needed|date=October 2011 Starting with an abusive father who had permanently injured him at eleven, Ford has lived his entire life in a distressed and violent environment, towards which he is quite indifferent.Cite news| last = Grant| first = Richard| title = Delta Force| work = The Observer| accessdate = October 16, 2011| date = November 16, 2003| url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2003/nov/16/popandrock2
Ford, an illiterate, had been working in various blue collar jobs as early as his preteen years, such as plowing fields, working at a sawmill, and later in life becoming a lumber company foreman and then a truck driver. At this time Ford was sentenced to ten years on a chain gang for murder. Allegedly Ford was able to reduce his sentence to two years. He ensuingly spent many of his years in conflicts with law enforcement.
Currently, Ford resides in Greenville, Mississippi and for a time wrote an advice column for Arthur (magazine)|Arthur magazine. Reportedly, he has twenty six children.
According to music writer 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 a guitar as a leaving present. Ford trained himself without being able to read 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 - Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf .
Ford toured juke joint s and other venues, for a while opening for Buddy Guy . In 1995, he was discovered by Matthew Johnson of Fat Possum Records ,McInerney, Jay. "White man at the door; one man's mission to record the 'dirty blues' - before everyone dies." The New Yorker , February 4, 2002: 54+. Academic OneFile. October 17, 2011. under which he released five album s from 1997 to 2008.
Since 2008, Ford worked with the Seattle -based musical ensemble|band , GravelRoad. The project began as a single event, with Ford needing assistance to play the Deep Blues Festival in Minnesota in July 2008. GravelRoad, long time fans of Ford and performers already scheduled for the festival, agreed to provide support for a ten-show United States|US concert tour|tour for Ford through July.
Ford had a pacemaker inserted at the end of that tour, but appeared on stage again with GravelRoad in 2008, 2009 and 2010. He suffered a stroke in early 2010, but despite difficulty with right-hand mobility, managed to complete a successful tour with GravelRoad. This tour concluded with an appearance at Pickathon Festival . Ford and GravelRoad opened the third day of the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)|All Tomorrow's Parties Festival , in New York over Labor Day weekend, 2010, curated by American independent film-maker Jim Jarmusch .
GravelRoad backed Ford on his 2010 and 2011 albums, The Ladies Man and Taledragger , both released by Alive Naturalsound Records .
Discography
Pee-Wee Get My Gun - 1997 ( Fat Possum Records|Fat Possum )
Persondata | NAME = Ford, James Lewis Carter | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Ford, T-Model | SHORT DESCRIPTION = United States|American blues musician | DATE OF BIRTH = | PLACE OF BIRTH = Forest, Mississippi , United States | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Ford, T-Model Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:African American musicians Category:American blues singers Category:American blues guitarists Category:American male singers Category:Fat Possum Records artists Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi Category:People from Scott County, Mississippi
