Modern Day Blues Legend T Model Ford Has Died

Legendary Mississippi bluesman T Model Ford (born James Lewis Carter Ford) has died in his Greenville, Mississippi home at an unknown age – believed to be somewhere between 89 and 94 years of age – after a battle with a respiratory illness, the New York Times reports.

The gruff bluesman didn't begin playing until the 1970s when his fifth wife gave him a guitar on the night she left him. Ford had never learned to read or write, let alone how to play guitar, so he taught himself a technique that would make him sound like artists he admired such as Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters.

He began to play in juke joints throughout the south of the United States and even scored a tour in support of Chicago blues legend Buddy Guy, before eventually being discovered by Matthew Johnson of Fat Possum Records who signed Ford. It was this signing that ultimately giving his career the shot in the arm that would see him rise to a new level of relative stardom around the world.

His 1997 album Pee Wee Get My Gun saw the rugged stream of conscious sounding lyrics and raw, simplistic guitar patterns capture the attention of blues fans around the world and Ford followed these up with a further four records on the same label. Through this time he would play upwards of 150 shows per year, often arriving to a show early and playing up until curfew, constantly swigging from his bottle of Jack Daniels.

In 2008 Ford had a pacemaker inserted but continued touring shortly after. He suffered his first stroke in 2010 which meant he lost some mobility in one of his hands, though that didn't stop him touring. He did slow down a little after his second stroke towards the end of last year, limiting his public performances somewhat.

Early in life Ford spent two years on a chain gang after killing a man in a bar fight and is said to have still had scars on his ankles from those days of hard labour. Ford fathered 26 children and had six different wives throughout his life. His most recent wife and now widow Estella Ford was with him when he passed away.

On Ford's most recent visit to Australia he played the 2004 Byron Bay Bluesfest and a series of accompanying dates with fellow bluesman Robert Belfour. He had previously played the Livid Festival in 2000.