She Ain't None of Your'n

CMJ (7/00, p.52) - "...He is the real thing, a white-lightning-damaged soul who speaks from his own twisted memory and experience..."

With this, his third release on Fat Possum Records, T-Model Ford takes his place as one of the label's elder statesmen, quite an accomplishment on a label loaded with septuagenarians. Ford doesn't pull any punches on She Ain't None of Your'n. The electronic loops and beats that have slowly crept into so many of the label's recent blues releases are noticeably absent. Instead listeners are left with a strong collection of raw, timeless Delta blues. As on Ford's previous albums, tracks range from the sublime (e.g., "Sail On") to the bizarre (e.g., "Chicken Head Man"), but even the most indulgent moments here are powered by strong grooves. On most of the album's tracks, Ford's guitar and vocals are accompanied only by drums. He and longtime drummer Spam had a falling out during the recording of the album, so Bryan Barry and the legendary Sam Carr split drumming duties on about half the tracks. There is no appreciable difference in their playing styles. Frank Frost, in one of his final recording appearances, contributes keyboards on two tracks. In addition to the aforementioned "Sail On," a number of blues standards are included on the album such as "How Many More Years" and "Mother's Gone." On a whole, She Ain't None of Your'n is a slight improvement over 1998's You Better Keep Still, but the differences are fairly negligible. Those who enjoyed Ford's previous albums will like this one as well, but it is not likely to make many converts. ~ Jeffrey Konkel