James Lewis Carter Ford – most likely born on June 24, 1923, in Forest, Mississippi - was a raw Delta blues singer and guitarist better known by his stage name T-Model Ford. Abused and injured by his father at the age of 11, he lived a majority of his life in a violent environment, which added an intensity to his music. Plagued by legal issues and the inability to hold a long-term job, he turned to the blues late in life and began performing in the 1970s. Nearly three decades after he began his blues music journey, he released his debut album, Pee Wee Get My Gun, in 1997. That album was followed by albums such as You Better Keep Still (1999), She Ain’t None of Your’n (2000), Bad Man (2002), Jack Daniel Time (2008), The Ladies Man (2010), and Taledragger (2011). While his music was embraced by blues purists, he never achieved commercial success during his lifetime. T-Model Ford died on July 16, 2013, at the age of 90.
