the hum / By Bob Doran

This Year’s Model

Bluesman T-Model Ford, plus Humboldt Collective and a new piano for WCA

(July 29, 2010)  “I was born in the swamp, down in a ditch that goes down to the swamp,” says James Lewis Carter “T-Model” Ford. The swamp was near Forrest, Miss. Exactly when he was born is in dispute. His driver’s license has one date, his passport another. He claims he’s 90, but his relations say he’s younger. One way or another, he’s an authentic old-time Delta bluesman who now lives in Greenville, not so far from Forrest.

He didn’t take up the guitar until late in life — he was 58 (or thereabouts) when he started picking out blues, drawing on memories of Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. While many bluesmen today just sing about hard lives, T-Model lived one. He was a farmworker as a boy, graduated to sawmill work and became a foreman before he was sentenced to a chain gang for murder. As he told the guys at the hipster label Fat Possum Records, “I could really stomp some ass back then. I was a sure-enough dangerous man.” So when he growls a song like “44 Blues,” accompanying himself on a slightly out-of-tune guitar, you believe him. He’s the real deal.

T-Model Ford and Gravel Road PHOTO BY PETER LEE

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T-Model has had quite a year so far: He had a stroke in April that did not deter him from touring, got married for the sixth time, played two shows on what may have been his 90th birthday in June then took his guitar to Europe, where he is adored. He’s been on the road in the States solo this summer, but this weekend meets up with a “dark blues” band from Seattle called Gravel Road, a trio who say they’re honored to be backing “Uncle T” — adding, “We hope he doesn’t bring the knife on the road with him.” They’ll back him when he hits Nocturnum for an early show on Wednesday, Aug. 4.

That’s actually a two-show night at Nocturnum. After the blues it’s the usual Womp Womp Wednesday, this time with Hellfire Machina from Brooklyn, plus Grasshopper of Konkrete Jungle (also from NYC) and Edgie.

If you’ve been to any of the ever-growing number of rave-ish DJ dance parties, you know people like to dress for them in spacey outfits. Friday at the Red Fox, that urge is rewarded: Super DJs Touch and Psy-Fi provide the soundtrack for the Super Hero Super Villain Costume Party. Come as your favorite super person and you get in free.

Seth Bernard and May Erlewine are a couple of folky songwriters from Michigan (and a couple) who were once known as Seth Barnard and Daisy May, respectively. (The name changes make for a long story.) Both record for Earthwork Music, an independent label affiliated with Seth’s family’s Earthwork Collective farm, where they play every year at the annual Harvest Gathering to celebrate indie folk and “earth-friendly activism.” They also help organize Water Festival events in the Great Lakes region, which celebrate clean water and access to the shores. Right now they’re making their way across the country with a drummer (Michael Shimmin) and a U-Haul trailer full of gear. They hit the West Coast Tuesday, Aug. 3, stopping at the Jambalaya to sing their songs. I think they’ll fit right in in Humboldt.

Westhaven Center for the Arts celebrates a recent acquisition Friday with what they’re calling an Inaugural Concert with New Piano. The piano is not exactly new; it’s a small Baldwin Acrosonic on loan from jazz pianist Darius Brotman, who says he bought it because “of all the mini-sized pianos it’s one of the best.” He’ll be playing straight-ahead jazz on it Friday accompanied by bassist Richard Saunders, a one-time local who now lives in the Bay Area.

This is one of three shows this week at WCA. On Saturday Jeff DeMark tells his stories and sings his songs with The LaPatinas,  a band featuring his bro Paul DeMark, bassist Ross Rowley (of Delta Nationals fame), violinist Jim Hatchimonji and guitarist Jim Silva plus a special guest — Jeff’s son, Jesse DeMark. “He’s going to play either sax or trumpet,” says Jeff.

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