James Louis Carter Ford didn't start playing guitar til he was 58 years old. But it didn't take long for him to pick up the name T Model and forever give himself to the Delta blues.
Ford says that surrender has been a good thing for him. He 's still enjoying the fruits of a career that's taken him from Forest, Mississippi to places across North America, Europe and Australia. Nowadays, he doesn't seem to have a personal preference about what name people use, but professionally ...
"I prefer T Model cause don’t nobody know James. But they all know T Model." says Ford.
T Model's fans were ready and waiting as he rolled into Tuscaloosa late August 2002 to play at the Chukker with Che Arthur and The Dexateens. Those fans, like many others, were about to taste hot licks from a lady named Black Nanny.
Black Nanny is considered the ace of T Model's three guitars. Red Nanny is the backup. Gold Nanny was stolen during a break in at his home. T Model says Black Nanny will let the crowd know who is the best.
“You’re going to know I am the best when I rake across Black Nanny. She going to let you know what I is and she is.”
Some call it Mississippi hill country music. Some call it boogie-groove. Ford swears its just Delta blues. He strums and picks aggressively, hands playing all over the neck and body of Black Nanny, riding the steady beats supplied by drummer Spam. Spam twirls his sticks as he keeps a simple groove. Nothing too fancy. Just enough to let Black Nanny's wrangle and pop to shine through.
"I want to get up there bad, cause Black Nanny is laying in there (guitar case.) I don’t know if she can hear or not, but I can hear her every once in a while knocking on that case. She don't like me playing no other guitars." he says.
Ford says love keeps him young. Love from his fans, and love from the "womens." He says the touch of a woman is one big thing that keeps his 80-year-old fires lit.
“That’s what you young men have got to find out about. I ain’t lost nothing. They still coming at me so now what can I do?”
His age of 80ish may be reflected in his walk, but not in his eyes. He has the look of a wild youngster. A wildness inspired by lost love, falling tree limbs and time on the chain gangs among other things. On this night though, everyone is T Model's friend. His whiskey glass is never empty, and he's never lacking a smoke.
“I ain’t worried about nothing and I ain’t lost nothing. I’m still a man, I’m a rolling stone.”
T Model Ford's fourth album "Bad Man" is available through Fat Possum Records in Oxford, MS - the same label as RL Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. Ford says he doesn't have a favorite song because they're all favorites.
"Tell your lover, it don't interfere with me. I lost my gun, but still got my knife. I'm coming to Greenville to cut asses" quotes Ford from one of his many songs.
Hard words delivered by a laughing face. If you ask T Model, he'll tell you he's the best there is - the Boss of the Blues. He says he's the best because he knows he's the best ... and he knows he can prove it to you. Just go ask Black Nanny.
Tour the News Archives
T Model Ford
at the Chukker
(8/21/02)
If you ask him, he'll tell you why
he's the best
T Model Ford
Delta Bluesman
(T Model and Spam)
“I ain’t worried about nothing and I ain’t lost nothing. I’m still a man, I’m a rolling stone.”
T Model lures them closer
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