James Lewis Carter aka "T-Model Ford"
Services planned Saturday,
July 27, 2013 through Redmond Funeral Home;
Greenville, MS
Ford taught himself to play blues at age 58, when a departing
wife left him a guitar. Ford toured Delta juke joints (including
many nights at Clarksdale's Red's Lounge and other venues; for
a while, he opened for Buddy Guy. He recorded seven albums, including
three with Fat Possum Records of Oxford, MS.
Ford lived an outsized
version of a bluesman's life. He was also an inventive musician
with a distinctive style, and a consummate showman and entertainer
who had an international following. "His music would take you
right back to the heart and soul of the Delta," said Clarksdale
Mayor Bill Luckett, co-owner of Ground Zero Blues Club, in USA
Today. T-Model's last performance was September, 2012 at the Highway
61 Blues Festival in Leland. Festival founder and Highway 61 museum
director Billy Johnson said, "All of the great Mississippi bluesmen,
though they may vary in style, have one thing in common: can't
anybody play their style or music like they can. That's what made
T-Model special. He was a little Delta, a little North Mississippi
hill country, with a taste of bop." The Highway 61 Blues Museum
has an impressive display on Ford that includes instruments, awards,
and photographs.
Services for Ford will be on July 27, 2013 in Greenville. Redmond
Funeral Home has charge. |
