James "Son Ford" Thomas (October 14, 1926 – June 26, 1993) was an American

Delta blues Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the s ...

musician,

gravedigger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), g ...

and sculptor from Leland, Mississippi.

Biography

Thomas was born in

Eden, Mississippi Eden is a village in Yazoo County, Mississippi. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 133. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land. History In 1888, Frank Guise, an African-American ma ...

on October 14, 1926. While working in the fields, he began listening to blues on the radio. As a self-taught guitarist, he learned to play songs from older blues guitarists Elmore Davis and

Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup (August 24, 1905 – March 28, 1974) was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known, outside blues circles, for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Gla ...

. He then worked as a gravedigger in Washington County. Thomas was honored with a marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in Leland, Mississippi. Thomas died at the age of 66 in Greenville, Mississippi, from

emphysema Emphysema, or pulmonary emphysema, is a lower respiratory tract disease, characterised by air-filled spaces ( pneumatoses) in the lungs, that can vary in size and may be very large. The spaces are caused by the breakdown of the walls of the alve ...

and a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

on June 26, 1993. He is buried in Bogue Cemetery in Leland, and memorialized by a headstone placed in 1996 by the

Mt. Zion Memorial Fund The Mount Zion Memorial Fund is a non-profit corporation formed in 1989 and named after the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Morgan City, Mississippi, United States. The fund was organized by Raymond 'Skip' Henderson, a former social worke ...

and paid for by

John Fogerty John Cameron Fogerty (born May 28, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. Together with Doug Clifford, Stu Cook, and his brother Tom Fogerty Thomas Richard Fogerty (November 9, 1941 – September 6, 1990) was an American mu ...

. His epitaph consists of lyrics from one of his songs. His son, Pat Thomas, continues to play and perform his father's songs.

Career

Thomas became known after appearing in films made by the Center for Southern Folklore in the 1970s. He appeared in the films ''Delta Blues Singer: James "Sonny Ford" Thomas'', ''Give My Poor Heart Ease: Mississippi Delta Bluesmen'', and ''Mississippi Delta Blues''. In the 1970s,

Eddie Cusic Eddie Cusic (January 4, 1926 – August 11, 2015) was an American Mississippi blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His small body of recorded works includes some erroneously credited to "Eddie Quesie" and "Eddie Cusie". Cusic had musical con ...

performed with Thomas at regular engagements. Together they recorded "Once I Had a Car", which is included on the

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

''Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues'' (1977). In the 1980s, Thomas recorded internationally. While working as a gravedigger, he was also a folk artist, making sculptures from unfired clay, which he dug out of the banks of the

Yazoo River The Yazoo River is a river in the U.S. states of Louisiana and Mississippi. It is considered by some to mark the southern boundary of what is called the Mississippi Delta, a broad floodplain that was cultivated for cotton plantations before the ...

. His most famous sculpted images were skulls (often featuring actual human teeth), which mirrored his job as a gravedigger and his often stated philosophy that "we all end up in the clay". In 1985, his work was featured in the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, where he was introduced to

Nancy Reagan Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in N ...

, then the First Lady. Thomas's skulls are on display in the Delta Blues Museum, in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

, and the Highway 61 Blues Museum, in Leland, Mississippi. Thomas played at numerous blues festivals and private parties throughout the area, including the Mississippi Delta Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville. In later performances, Thomas was accompanied by the Swiss

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

player Walter Liniger. Thomas was recorded by several small record labels and is probably best known for his album ''Gateway to the Delta'', recorded by

Rust College Rust College is a private historically black college in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Founded in 1866, it is the second-oldest private college in the state. Affiliated with the United Methodist Church, it is one of ten historically black colleges ...

Holly Springs, Mississippi Holly Springs is a city in, and the county seat of, Marshall County, Mississippi, United States, near the southern border of Tennessee. Near the Mississippi Delta, the area was developed by European Americans for cotton plantations and was dep ...

. The film based on his life, ''Gateway to the Delta: Delta Blues Singer James (Sonny Ford) Thomas,'' won the Mississippi Arts film festival award in 1972.

Discography

* ''The Blues Are Alive and Well'' (1969), anthology * ''Mississippi Delta & South Tennessee Blues'' (1979), Italian anthology (LP only) * ''I Got the Blues This Morning'' (1979), Italian anthology (LP only) * ''Highway 61 Blues 1968–82'', LP edit, Center for Southern Folklore * ''Gateway to the Delta 1986–87'', LP edit, Center for Southern Folklore * '' Son Down On The Delta'', (1982), Flying High Records - FH 650, (LP)

Selected exhibitions

''Called To Create: Black Artists of the American South'', National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, September 18, 2022 – March 26, 2023, curated by Harry Cooper. ''Black Folk Art in America, 1930-1980,'' Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, January 15, 1982 - May 15, 1983, curated by Jane Livingston and John Beardsley. ''Made by Hand: Mississippi Folk Art,'' Mississippi State Historical Museum, Jackson, Mississippi, January 22, 1980 - May 25, 1980.

Sources

* Ferris, William (2009). ''Give My Poor Heart Ease: Voices of the Mississippi Blues''. University of North Carolina Press. (with CD and DVD with field recordings and video of Thomas) * Nicholson, Robert (1999). ''Mississippi Blues Today!'' Da Capo Press. .

References

External links

Illustrated James "Son" Thomas discography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, James 1926 births 1993 deaths Delta blues musicians Blues musicians from Mississippi Respiratory disease deaths in Mississippi Deaths from emphysema Sculptors from Mississippi Outsider artists Artists from Mississippi People from Yazoo County, Mississippi 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists American male sculptors 20th-century American musicians People from Leland, Mississippi Black & Blue Records artists Mississippi Blues Trail Southland Records artists