What's Spinning

Yer Ol' Uncle D said:
Right on! The first person other than myself I recall playing some T-Model.

What a story - started playing guitar at 58, made his first record at 75. That's the blues, people.

The first time I saw T-Model was in the mid 90's. It was a duo set with Spam on drums opening for RL Burnside. They basically had to tell T-Model to stop playing so RL could come out and do his set.

I got to know T-Model during the last 10 years of his life. So kind, so gracious, SO DAMN FUNNY!

He'd let me record his shows when he came thru. Here's a clip from one...




One of my most prized musical possessions is this handbill T-Model autographed for me. Now, you need to understand, T-Model never learned to write and he didn't autograph things very often. Imagine if someone gave you a pencil and paper and told you to draw the Pink Floyd DSOTM cover - that's what it was like seeing T-Model sign his name. It was coming totally from visual memory, a 'picture' of his signature. Watching the process made me so incredibly appreciative that he'd do that for me.

RIP T-Model. Thanks for everything.

View attachment 85471
Click to expand...


This is AMAZING! Thank you for sharing this with me!

I don't know how many people would agree with this, but I believe that T-Model, RL, and Junior Kimbrough were the last of the real for their era. It was never about the amount of notes, it was about grit and honesty. I liken listening to their records to eating ribs and licking the sauce from your fingers, but your hands are still dirty from the hard work you were doing before your meal. In other words, the sweetness and the bitter grit of the world come through, but not in a way that would be off-putting; instead you are proud to experience the flavor.

Much love and respect. Would love to dive into the rabbit hold of live recordings of these greats, especially because, to my understanding, it was not uncommon for them (particularly T-Model) to play for 8 hours, and I am curious what a marathon like that would involve!

EDIT: I hope a reissue campaign happens eventually. "She Ain't None of Your'n" is a white whale LP for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top