MANSFIELD — Frank Boyd Jr. has had the blues since he was 2 years old.
“The blues touches my soul, man. My dad was a blues guitar player. I grew up listening to him play.
“My mom said I ought to love it because when I was 2 years old, he had me on his knee bouncing it in me,” the 71-year-old Mansfield resident said.
He and his current band, Frank Boyd Jr. and the Bona-Fide Truth, are bringing that love for the blues with a special five-hour, three-band show Saturday at the Mansfield Playhouse.
Despite that initial blues bounce with Frank Sr., Boyd became a musician — but didn’t start out as a blues man.
“As I grew up though, I played everything but the blues. But I always loved the music,” the 1973 Mansfield Senior High School graduate said.
“I could never really feel the other stuff, but the blues is a message about life. To me, it speaks to my soul and it’s an extension of who I am.
“When I am playing the blues, it’s a part of me. Some people kind of take (blues) as a negative, but the blues are responsible for every kind of music that’s being played in America,” he said.
Two bands from Columbus — John Henry and the Rainmakers and the Inner City Blues Band — are also on the bill at the theater located at 95 E. Third St. in downtown Mansfield.
There will also be three food trucks during the event — Smokin’ Guns BBQ, Royal Eats and A Taste of Soul.
Tickets are on sale at the Mansfield Playhouse website.
Boyd said his current band lineup has been together for about 18 months.
“There’s been many come and go, everything has its season. It’s hard to keep bands together. We get older and people get tired, but I have a great bunch of guys,” he said.
One of his band members, Scott Jeffrey, came to Boyd with the idea of a show at the historic theater.
“I thought was a great idea. You got a better setting with the with the theater-type setting. I love that idea. So yeah, man, let’s give it a shot,” Boyd said.
He said his band plays original music.
“I will do a cover, but it’s usually my own,” he said.
“Blues is folk music and people took and did different things with it. My style is Chicago … Delta … I mean, we do it all. I kind of love what I do,” he said.
A truck driver flirting with retirement, Boyd said his earliest memories were playing as a teenager for YMCA dances and “Battle of the Bands” events.
“We had places to go and places to play. As I got older, (I) had to be an adult. But it was a wonderful time growing up in Mansfield in the ’70s and ’80s,” he said.
On Saturday, each band will play a 90-minute set with breaks in-between to set up for the next band. That will allow people to visit the food trucks and the Playhouse concession stand.
What will be different about this show?
“You got the blues. You can hear (other music) anywhere, but here … you got the blues.
“The idea is to bring outside money to Mansfield. That’s why we chose the bands we did. We could have got bands around here to play, but it might have hurt all of us,” Boyd said.
“I think it’s going to be a great time. That’s my thought. If you love what you do, it’s always a great time.
“My dad gave me a guitar when I was five. Here I am at 71 still trying to learn how to play it.”