GREENVILLE, Miss. — A Mississippi blues artist has died. James Lewis Carter Ford, better known as T-Model Ford, was born in Forrest. His age is uncertain. According to Oxford label, Fat Possum Records, he was 94 years old. His family told the County Coroner he was born in 1924 which would have made him 89.
At a young age Ford served 10 years in prison for killing a man in self-defense. While there he, served on a chain gang and had the scars on his ankles to prove it.
Ford claimed he didn’t start playing guitar until his fifth wife left him at age 58. She left the guitar as a going away present.
He started his career playing at private parties and juke joints around the delta. It was not until 1995 that he was picked up by Fat Possum Records while opening up for Buddy Guy.
Ford died Tuesday of respiratory failure while at his home in Greenville.
