T-Model Ford is an artist I first encountered on a Fat Possum compilation. I was immediately drawn to his raw old-time blues sound. Naturally, I was pretty excited to learn that T-Model had a new album available. The album begins with a real simple blues tune called "Chickenhead Man." How simple? It features only guitar, harmonica and T-Model's vocals. This has a real old-time, front-porch sort of sound. It is real easy to imagine T-Model playing this on some creaky chair on a front porch with a fruit jar at his feet.
If you are looking for more complex arrangements, you'll have to keep looking. These are excellently simple blues tunes, all of them. And you will not feel cheated by this album either. It's only 11 tracks, but T-Model gives you 57 minutes worth of music in those 11 tracks, including the classic "My Babe."
This album also contains a track of T-Model talking about how he learned to play the guitar on his when he was 58 despite the fact that he can't read or write. How did he do that? Well, he listened to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf when he was young, and just tried to imitate their sound. And if you're a fan of that, just wait until you hear T-Model declare "It's Jack Daniel's time!" Listening to this album seems like as good a time for JD as anything.
I am going to take a lesson from T-Model himself and keep this real simple. If you do not like this album, you do not like the blues. If you are a fan of old-time blues, this is an album you will want to have in your collection.
