By Anaka Johnston
Special Contributor
 

Courtesy Photo From left: Richard Akers, Tom Watkins, Mike Martin, Bill Ford, Ben James, and Doug May play together as Bona Fide Blues.

Four years ago, a group of Oak Cliff neighbors discovered they had a common love of the blues and playing music. They started jamming and playing at friends’ parties, a pastime that quickly grew into a full-fledged band.

A few members left, and a few more joined. Today the group — Richard Akers, Bill Ford, Ben James, Mike Martin, Doug May, and Tom Watkins — plays as Bona Fide Blues, a band invested in the neighborhood and devoted to playing Texas blues.

Aside from their love of the music, Ford said, the group had a more vain reason to choose the blues over, say, heavy metal.

“Old guys look silly in spandex,” he joked.

Most of Bona Fide Blues’ members are in their 50s. Martin, the baby of the group, is closer to 40.

The blues is special to the band because it’s special to Oak Cliff, a neighborhood closely linked to the genre. 

“Oak Cliff sort of owns Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan,” said Watkins. “There’s a lot of blues history.”

Oak Cliff is also special to the band because of its history and character.

“It’s home of the Vaughan brothers. Lee Harvey Oswald was caught at the Texas Theatre. And Clyde Barrow is buried right over there on Fort Worth Avenue. You don’t just get that kind of whole character stuff anywhere,” said Akers.

All but two of the band’s members live in Oak Cliff. May, an Oak Cliff native, lives in East Dallas. Martin lives in Lewisville, but his fellow musicians say his heart is in Oak Cliff.

The members hold a variety of day jobs — from college professor to corporate executive to visual artist — but they make time to practice at least once a week at Pro Rehearsal near Love Field. Ford, who refers to himself as a “silverback,” stood outside the studio last week in shorts and an Eric Clapton T-shirt, talking to younger musicians.

“All bands have the same conversations,” Ford said as he walked into the space where Bona Fide Blues was playing guitars, drums, and harmonica while discussing their songs, musical genres, and the blues philosophy.

“The connotation is that [blues is] sad and down, and you’re down on your luck,” Akers said. “But all blues music is really uplifting.”

Ford said the blues is often solution driven.

“When you leave a situation where you say ‘I should have said that,’ that’s how a lot of blues music is,” he said. “[It’s] what you should have said.”

In what they described as a typical session, they practiced their own rendition of “Boot Hill,” a traditional blues song they were playing together for the second time. Everyone was involved, discussing verses, leads, and breaks.

Still, while two members talked, others continued strumming guitars or playing the harmonica. 

“No one can stay quiet,” Ford commented.

“We have a nervous energy,” rejoined Watkins.

This energy, however, translates to the stage in a positive way, and regardless of where they’re playing, they have a good time.

“They bring a great energy,” said Trent Smith, general manager of Eno’s Pizza Tavern, where the band plays monthly. “They have a unique talent to draw in a crowd and keep them interested as the night goes on.”

The band is working on a CD and plans to continue playing in Oak Cliff. That’s music to Smith’s ears.

“They love to play in Oak Cliff. They want to play in front of their neighbors,” he said. “They’re exactly what Oak Cliff is all about and what Oak Cliff is looking for.”

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