Jimmy Dillon and Friends will play an R&B Revue and BBQ at Mulligan’s on the Blue to benefit Mana‘o Radio on Friday. Photo courtesy Jimmy Dillon

Mulligans on the Blue’s dance floor will likely be packed on Friday when Jimmy Dillon and Friends take the stage with an “R&B Revue,” performing classics by Al Green, James Brown and The Staple Singers, in a benefit for Mana’o Radio.

“It will be very danceable, kind of like the R&B I grew up with like Al Green and Ray Charles, and later on Boz Scaggs and the Staple Singers,” said Dillon. “New Orleans to Memphis is kind of the theme, and there’ll be some funky Chicago blues and a smattering of original tunes.”

Dillon’s hot band includes Steve Sargenti, Sal Godinez, Steve Morris, Gary Ahrnsbrak, Dillon’s wife Kelly Bella and guest vocalist Gretchen Rhodes from Mick Fleetwood’s House of Rumors group.

“We have Steve Sargenti because he’s got that really soulful kind of New Orleans to Memphis sound,” Dillon explained. “Then I got drummer Steve Morris from the Lonely Hearts band, and we have keyboard player Sal Godinez, and he’s so good. On bass we have Gary Ahrnsbrak, a great bass player. And then we thought, let’s get a little rock and roll with Gretchen. She’s such a good singer and has great energy. It will be fun.”

Adept at acoustic and electric blues and rock, this super talented musician’s career has included touring the world with Bruce Springsteen’s saxophonist Clarence Clemons’ The Red Bank Rockers, opening for the Beach Boys, recording with Carlos Santana, performing with Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Narada Michael Walden and playing before President Bill Clinton onstage with The Band.

Dillon’s albums include “Bad and Blue” (with Clemons on sax), “Everything” with Rolling Stones’ keyboardist Chuck Leavell and “Live at Sweetwater,” with the Marin Independent Journal praising: “Dillon loves to entertain people, and that joy seeps through every note of ‘Live at the Sweetwater’.”

Initially living on Maui in the late 1970s, where he was a regular at the old Blue Max in Lahaina, Dillon returned to the island four years ago after time in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dillon has also recently been having fun entertaining audiences with a contemporary twist of the Beatles with the Lonely Hearts Band.

“It’s the Beatles and beyond,” he said. “I used to have a band called the Lonely Hearts, back in San Francisco, and we would get together and do gigs. I thought, why not resurrect the Lonely Hearts, but not make it a tribute band, make it re-imagined Beatles’ songs like they might play them today. Our first gig was a free block party in Paia about six months ago, and 200 people showed and everybody was having fun. The next gig will be Sept. 24, the Lonely Hearts unplugged at the ProArts Playhouse.”

Dillon will also perform at the ProArts Playhouse on Aug. 19 for “The Six-String Man” acoustic evening.

Amongst his most memorable gigs, he treasures his time with saxophonist Clemons, who played with Springsteen’s E Street Band for decades. Dillon became the musical director and lead singer for Clemons’ The Red Bank Rockers. And that’s how he ended up performing at the White House for President Clinton.

“I was touring with Clemons having a ball, and he said, ‘We’re going to D.C. I need you to help me out with charts. We’re playing something with Clinton. He’s a fan because he plays sax.’

“I had no idea how incredible it was going to be. Everybody was there. The first person I see at the hotel is Levon Helm (of The Band) crossing the lobby. Our gig was called the Absolutely Unofficial Blue Jeans Bash. Dr. John was on piano. We were rehearsing and some guy with a hood on and weird mirror glasses comes up to us and says, ‘Hey man, do you have an extra guitar?’ I said yeah. Turns out it was Bob Dylan and he played. We ended up doing a whole bunch of stuff with Dylan and Stephen Stills on guitar and Dickie Betts. It was like a cavalcade of stars. I was in the right place at the right time.”

Mulligans on the Blue presents an R&B Revue and BBQ with Jimmy Dillon and Friends from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are $35 and available at manaoradio.com/bbq. All proceeds benefit Mana’o Radio.