Del McGee, center, will host Singer/Songwriters For St Jude on Saturday at The Stem & Stein as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – The 17th annual “Singer/Songwriters For St Jude” event on Saturday will benefit patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The Stem & Stein at 10871 County Line Road, Suite B will host the event on Sept. 7 from 4 to 10 p.m. Guests will not pay a cover charge.

Show organizer Del McGee invites residents to “come out to see and hear some of the area’s best singer/songwriters and help support our efforts to help the children of St Jude. It’s an evening of fun with friends and family and the best beer and wine selection in Madison.”

McGee’s memory of his boyhood friend, Judy Clayton, motivated him to start the fundraiser. “Judy was full of life and happiness … bright blonde hair, big beautiful blue eyes sparkled like the ocean.” However, Judy became ill from an unknown cause and died at age 11.

“Judy’s memory has never left me and never will,” McGee said. The fundraiser developed after his karaoke gig at a local hotel led to donations for St. Jude.

“The songwriting community here in north Alabama is as loving a bunch as you’ll find anywhere on the planet,” he said. “I had so many volunteer that I literally put names in a hat and drew them.”

Both McGee and The Stem and Stein owners will match all donations.

Madison vocalist Cristina Lynn said she has “several new songs not many folks have heard that I’m hoping to share.”

Entertainment will start at 4 p.m. with Earl Watts, Robert Barnes, Robin Stewart and Connie Nicholas Carnes. At 5:30 p.m., Mary Justice Lucas, Amit Chadha, John Crosslin and Lori Lovelace-Muse will take the mic.

The singing will continue when Chapman James, Kendra Sutton, Cristina Lynn and Del McGee perform at 7 p.m. The last set at 8:30 p.m. will include Jim Parker, Billy Droze and Will Stults.

Individuals can mail tax-deductible donations for St. Jude to Del McGee, P.O. Box 6756, Huntsville AL 35813. For more information, visit Facebook/Singer/Songwriters for St. Jude.