January 28, 2010
For Immediate Release:
For Immediate Release:
Media Contact:
Jim Chilson
T-Model Ford makes rare Massachusetts appearance
90 Year Old North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Legend kicks off 2010 United States tour
90 Year Old North Mississippi Hill Country Blues Legend kicks off 2010 United States tour
Somerville, MA, February 25, 2010 - T-Model Ford, one of the last living legends of The North Mississippi Hill Country Blues, makes a very rare appearance in Massachusetts as he kicks off his Eastern and Southern United States tour. The 90 year old blues legend, with be paired with drummer Marty Reinsel of the Seattle based band Gravel Road for the tour. His on Northern New England appearance will take place at PA’s Lounge in Somerville on Thursday February 25th. The opening act will be Ten Foot Polecats, they are one of the few Massachusetts’ bands that are directed influenced by the North Mississippi Hill Country sound. Ten Foot Polecats also have played with T-Model Ford at this past year’s Deep Blues Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
This show was put together by Jim Chilson of Ten Foot Polecats with assistance from The Boston Blues Society, F-Nice Records, and in conjunction with PA’s Lounge in Somerville. The event will be sponsored by The Boston Blues Society as they help bring yet another national act to the area for all local blues fans and fellow musicians to experience.
About the artist: T-MODEL FORD
Born James Lewis Carter Ford, he grew up in a violent household in Mississippi and began working in the fields at an early age. After leaving home, he was convicted for killing a man with a switch blade in Tennessee. "I had to kill the man because he was gonna kill me," Ford told McGuinness. "He cut me first and I didn't back down." A lawyer helped reduce the ten-year sentence, and Ford spent the next two years on a chain gang. "He has been shot, stabbed, and poisoned," wrote Jim Dickinson in the liner notes to Bad Man. "His ankles wear the ragged scars of chain gang shackles
T-Model Ford, currently 90 years old, picked up the guitar for the first time at the age of 58. His wife bought him a guitar and amplifier as a present. The guitar remained in the box that it arrived in until a week later, when Ford's wife left him. "It wasn't tuned and I didn't know how so I tuned it my way...," Ford recalled to Ed Mabe for Delta Boogie online. "So I learned myself how to play."
In the mid-1990s, Ford was approached by Matt Johnson and Bruce Watson of Fat Possum Records. "They come to my house for two weeks trying to catch me," Ford told Mabe. "Around that time I didn't know I was that good to get out and play. I could play 'em but I didn't know how good." In 1997, at the age of 77, Ford released his debut on Fat Possum Records. Since then T-Model Ford has recorded some fabulously lowdown and dirty albums on Fat Possum Records, Mudpuppy Records, and currently with Alive Records. He has also been featured in such documentaries as "You Can See Me Laughin'" & "M For Mississippi".
Ford's often turbulent life has nonetheless left a singular mark on the blues he plays, leading Rick Bragg of the New York Times to joke: "He did not sell his soul, as legend says Robert Johnson did. The Devil, people say, would run from Mr. Ford."
About the artist: TEN FOOT POLECATS
Ten Foot Polecats are a three piece Punk Blues band with their deep roots drawn from the North Mississippi Hill Country. Even though they are basically in their sophomore season, they have made quite an impression on the Boston/Worcester music scenes as they are currently one of the few blues based bands booked across the state (and beyond) in the rock club circuit and on various punk and psychobilly bills. Ten Foot Polecats are creating their own sound and blurring the barriers between musical genres that have been created by some and adhered to by way too many.
Their debut full length CD “I Get Blamed For Everything I Do” on Hillgrass Bluebilly Records (Austin, TX) is due for release in late March 2010. It exhibits the menacingly textured vocals of Jay Scheffler, the hyperkinetic guitar work of Jim Chilson, and the primal beat thumping of Dave Darling. Known as a record label that takes the roots revolution by the neck, Hillgrass Bluebilly and Ten Foot Polecats seem like a perfect match. Midwestern, Southern and Northeast United States Tours are currently being scheduled in support of the album starting in May 2010.
About the sponsor: BOSTON BLUES SOCIETY
Founded in 1988, the Boston Blues Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the blues. Our goals are to involve the community through education of blues music and Southern culture; to act in the community by providing fundraisers for charitable organizations; and to teach children and adults about this great, original American art form. Bostonblues.com, formerly known as Boston Blues News, is the online newsletter published by the Boston Blues Society. The newsletter details blues and blues influenced activities in Boston and throughout New England, as well on a national level. The Boston Blues Society is a Blues Foundation affiliate
Event Details:
Advance Tickets are $10 and will be available through F-Nice Records and PA’s Lounge.
Doors open at 8pm
Show times are
8:45pm Ten Foot Polecats
10pm T-Model Ford
Thursday February 25th
PA’s Lounge
345 Somerville Avenue
Somerville MA
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