By M.D. CUNNINGHAM

THREE OAKS, Mich. — The inaugural Blues Heaven Annual Blues Bash is slated for Saturday June 20. It will be held at the Featherbone Restaurant and Lounge, 6741 West U.S. Highway 12 in Three Oaks,

For $20, attendees will be able to take part in the day’s activities, which start at 1 p.m. and will run through midnight. The Elwood Splinters Band, Dicky James and the Blue Flames and Muddy Guise Band headline the event.

The event, which is a celebration of the 100th Birthday Celebration for Hall of Fame Blues songwriter, producer and musician Willie Dixon, will act as a joint fundraiser for the Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation and Betty’s Buddies, a local nonprofit organization that assists Cancer patients.

The Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation, located at the iconic Chess Recording Studio building at 2120 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, supports artists of all genres of music in establishing their careers.

Betty’s Buddies is named after Betty Grosse who lost her own battle with cancer and is the wife of Denny Grosse and mother of Jodie Grosse Haughey who own The Featherbone

Other festivities at the fundraiser will include a silent auction, prizes and special guests that will include members of the Dixon family and Grammy Award winning songwriter for Muddy Waters and Blues Historian Terry Abrahamson whose book, In the Belly of the Blues, has met critical acclaim and will be available for purchase.

Abrahamson helped launch George Thorogood’s career, created John Lee Hooker’s first radio commercial and was well acquainted with Willie Dixon and the Rolling Stones.

Muddy Guise will kick off the day with a two-hour set that begins at 1 p.m. Arriving from Terre Haute with “soul drenching blues that will carry you from the Mississippi Delta to Chicago and bring you back safely,” Dicky James and the Blue Flames will play from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The Elwood Splinters Blues Band — master musicians who’ve been perfecting their craft for 30 years and played with greats like Pinetop Perkins and Lonnie Brooks, along with the likes of Koko Taylor and Sugar Blue — will take it home playing from 8 p.m. to midnight.

Tickets are available at the Featherbone Restaurant and Lounge, Blues Heaven and online at www.bluesheaven.com.