Nothing - and we mean nothing - can stop bluesman T-Model Ford

Everybody gets the blues. T-Model Ford lives them.

The 79-year-old Mississippi singer has had five wives and 26 children. He's illiterate. He toiled in logging camps -- when he wasn't in jail. Once, he claims, he killed a man in self-defence and spent time on a chain gang. He's been shot at and poisoned. He walks with a limp after being hit with a chair. No wonder T-Model says he picked up a guitar at 58 when his fifth wife left him. And no wonder his records -- notably his intense, primal debut Pee Wee Get My Gun -- feature some of the rawest Delta blues since John Lee Hooker.

We're not sure how much of what T-Model says is true. We called him up, and he seemed like a nice guy. Even gave us directions to his house in Greenville, Miss. ("Turn left there at the McDonald's"). But we still wouldn't turn our back on him. We will go see him and his drummer Spam turn the West End Cultural Centre into a juke joint tomorrow night, though.

Sun: Where did you get the name T-Model?

Ford: A white fellow that run the logging camp where I worked give it to me. I was about 20. He said, "James, I'm going to give you a new name." I said, "Yes sir." He said, "I'm going to start calling you T-Model after the car." I said, "Yes sir, thank you." And ever since then, I been T-Model.

Sun: How did you learn to play guitar?

Ford: My last wife, she bought me a guitar and an amplifier. At first, I didn't mess with it. I wasn't interested in playing no blues. But one evening she left me. After she left, I started looking at that guitar. It was a pretty little electric guitar. I started strumming and turning the buttons and after a while I heard something. I said, "Yes, indeed." I didn't know what I was doing, but it sounded good.

Sun: How long did it take you to learn to play?

Ford: It didn't take long -- about a month and I was playing at parties. I didn't know but two songs but I was pretty good. Some fella who owned a club asked, "How much do you want to play for the night?" I never played for no money. He said, "Would you take $30?" I said, "Yes, sir!" Pretty soon, folks were coming from all over to see me. All the folks told me, "T-Model, you're the best!" And I been bad with the guitar ever since. When I'm playing, you'd swear it was two guitars, but it ain't but just one.

Sun: How do you write songs?

Ford: I can't read nor write, so I don't write 'em. I just hear 'em and play 'em. They just come to me.

Sun: But how do you manage to remember them all?

Ford: I can remember them if I wanna. But I been having some trouble for a couple of years -- ever since a guy hit me with a chair.

Sun: Why did he do that?

Ford: I don't know. I just come home one day and a guy hit me with a chair and knocked me foolish. They got him and put him in jail, but he knocked me outta my senses. Since then I don't remember so well. That same year, one of my sons jumped me and broke my eardrum. My wife Stella got him offa me. I went to my van to get my pistol 'cause I was gonna kill him. My other son took it so I couldn't, but I don't see that son no more. Other than that, I'm doing fine. I'm just crippled, that's all.

Sun: We bet you're still pretty tough. What was the worst trouble you ever got into?

Ford: I went on the chain gang when I was coming on 18. A guy jumped me, and I hit him. He stabbed me in the back and left the knife in my back. I had a switchblade that I opened with my teeth. I stabbed him in the neck, and he died. It was self-defence, but they sentenced me to 10 years. I didn't stay but two. My mama sold the house and got a lawyer and got me out.

Sun: What do you do most days?

Ford: Nothing. Sit around and maybe do a little something to my car. I have a '73 Lincoln Marquee and two vans. Maybe have a drink.

Sun: What do you drink?

Ford: Jack Daniel's. But I just sip. I don't get out there and get drunk. They just bring it to me in little glasses. It takes three or four of them little cups to get me feeling happy.

Sun: Who is your favourite singer?

Ford: Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Lighting Slim, Jimmy Reed ... I like all of 'em. But I'm better than all of 'em. I can do some bad blues.

Sun: What's your favourite song?

Ford: They all sound good when I get a couple of Jack Daniel's in me.

Sun: Do you think the blues will live on after guys like you are gone?

Ford: No, it's gonna be all gone -- these white boys, they wish they could play like me. But they can't. I could teach 'em, but I ain't gonna.