(July 16, 2013) Jackson, Miss.- According to the Associated Press, James Lewis Carter “T-Model” Ford has died. He passed away at his home in Greenville. He was 58 years old. 

Emily Wagster Pettus of the Associated Press has the rest of the story. 

Washington County Coroner Methel Johnson tells The Associated Press that Ford died of respiratory failure shortly after 10 a.m. Tuesday. She says he was at home with several relatives, including his wife, Estella Ford.

Johnson says the family told her Ford was born in 1924 and had already had his birthday this year, which would've made him 89. But a blues expert and longtime friend, Roger Stolle, says Ford didn't remember what year he was born and claimed to be 93.

Bill Luckett, co-owner of Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Miss., says Ford was "a master of old-school blues" with an international following.

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