Customer Reviews

Bad Man

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According to the liner notes, Ford has been shot, stabbed and poisoned and his ankles bear the scars of chain gang shackles. As if that weren't enough, the self proclaimed boss of the blues announces at the beginning of the CD that he "ain't never been to school a day in [his] life and can't read or write". All that may be true, but one thing's for sure the man from Greenville, Mississippi certainly has the credentials to play the blues.
Lesser known perhaps than RL Burnside or the late Junior Kimbrough, he is every bit as interesting. Ford's style is unconventional and uncompromising and he plays blues using the old blues standard of three chords and the truth. Songs straight from the heart, raw, rough and ready to be heard.

T-Model Ford has been through the mill more than once, and at 80 is still working hard to get the dying message of the Mississippi Hill Country Blues out to those who will listen. With drummer Spam, James "T-Model" Ford plays an endless boogie reflecting the hardships of being shot, stabbed, poisoned, and working on a chain gang. "Bad Man" is a driving reflection of a man who won't quit, and his interpretation of the chaos around him. Featured with R.L. Burnside in the February 2002 Issue of the New Yorker, T-Model & Spam are currently touring on the Fat Possum Mississippi Juke Joint Caravan. With more stamina than most young artists today, his style is reflective of artists like Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters; but is stripped-down and brutally honest. All the tracks are originals, produced live by Memphis legend Jim Dickinson. It's T-Model, his guitar, Spam and nothing else. T-Model doesn't complain here, it's just his way of saying that he learned the hard way. This album does not reflect a relic of the past, nor does it want sympathy; it's an interpretation of a bluesman that celebrates the will to keep going despite adversity of any kind.

Not for a back ground music for your sophisticated afternoon. Too heavy for that. This one is good for sit-down-and-listen - really listen. He is not singing. He is not playing. Instead, his LIFE is singing and playing, not for you, but for his LIFE itself. It's that kind of music you find in this CD. His LIFE is in it.

When T-model ford get's going he's unstoppable His raw riff oriented Guitar and amazingly raw voice go together perfictly. On most T-Model ford albums there are couple songs that arn't really that good and make the album alittle less enjoyable. But there is none of that on this record. Like T-Model himself say on this Record, "That's some good soundin' music there"

I was at the Baltimore Blues festival a few years back under a hot sun and full of whiskey (which is the only proper way to listen to the blues). The festival was for the most part okay. Nearing the end everyone migrated over to the tent where the man was gonna play. The announcer stood up on the stage after T-Model had dragged himself up there and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the baddest man on the planet!" He wasn't lying.

It's nice to see T-model go back to basics. This album is full of the attitude, energy, and just plain nastiness of the first three. Although I am a fan of Pee Wee Get My Gun, and still thinks it's his best, Bad Man is a must by for any true blues fan.