Jam-packed with musical talent, the 15th installment of the Thomas Dorsey Birthplace Festival promises to be a fitting tribute to the “Father of Gospel Music.”

Though Dorsey spent most of his life living and performing elsewhere, his birth in Villa Rica has always been a source of pride for those area residents who know his influence on gospel, blues and jazz music. Since 1994, a year after Dorsey’s death, the festival bearing his name has honored the memory of Dorsey and his contribution to music history.

The free two-day festival will kick-off at Gold Dust Park on Industrial Boulevard on Friday, June 26, at 6 p.m. with Rico Henry Band. Then, from 7:30-9:30 p.m., The Mose Davis Trio with Teresa Hightower will take the stage.

The lineup for Saturday, June 27, begins with a 3-5 p.m. performance at Mt. Prospect Baptist Church with renowned gospel singer Dorothy Norwood and the award-winning Thomas Dorsey Birthplace Choir. The festivities will then move back to Gold Dust Park at 6 p.m. for blues, barbecue and a performance by Sandra Hall Band, followed by a two-hour set by Jerry Allen & Crescent Blues Band. Fireworks after Allen’s performance will close out the festival.

Born in Atlanta, festival headliner Dorothy Norwood began singing and touring with her family at 8 years old. Later she moved to Chicago, where she sang with such notables as the late Mahalia Jackson, the world-famous Caravans, and the late Rev. James Cleveland.

Norwood, know as “The World’s Greatest Gospel Storyteller,” launched her own career and recorded her first album, “Johnny and Jesus,” on Savoy Records in 1964. Winning national acclaim, she earned a gold album, which she quickly followed with a second gold album featuring “Denied Mother,” a song that is still among her most requested.

To date, she has recorded 48 albums, received five gold records, six Grammy nominations, one Stellar Award, three Stellar nominations, the 2005 Lady of Soul Award for best gospel album and numerous citations for her contributions to the field of gospel music.

Though Norwood is the festival’s headlining act, the other performers are great musicians in their own right. Some have even performed at the Dorsey Birthplace Festival in prior years.

Rico Henry has became one of the most sought-after gospel musicians in Atlanta, working with the likes of many notable artists, such as Hezekiah Walker, Kurt Karr, Donnie McClurkin, Shirley Caesar, Daryl Coley, Byron Cage and Kim Burrell. His truest passion is smooth jazz, a genre in which he has worked with such distinguished artists as Kirk Whalum, Brian Culbertson, Norman Brown and Malcolm-Jamal Warner.

The Mose Davis Trio is comprised of classically trained musicians Mose Davis on keyboard, Gary Wilkins on base and Marcus Williams on drums. Mose Davis, a former member of The Counts, has performed nationwide for 30 years and recently released a solo album. Theresa Hightower is regarded as one of the great jazz and blues vocalists of her generation. A veteran of concert halls, recordings, cabaret and musical theater, both critics and audiences have marveled at her range, vocal phrasing and exciting live performances.

Early in her career, Sandra Hall formed a group called The Exotics that opened for Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Johnny Taylor, B.B. King, Jerry Butler, the Temptations, and the O’Jays at the legendary Royal Peacock on Auburn Avenue in Atlanta. Hall then went solo and she found herself in the blues, working her way all over the world from city to city and country to country, enjoying people wherever she went and having fun along the way. Some of the places and people she had fun sharing the stage with were Bo Diddly, Eddie Clearwater, Carey Bell, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Rhodes, Lucky Peterson, James Peterson, Etta James, Bobby Rush, Nappy Brown, Trudy Lynn, Kenny Neal and Rufus Thomas, just to name a few.

Rounding out the star-studded line-up is Jerry Allen & Crescent Blue Band. Allen has been performing for more than 35 years with such acts as Barbara Mason, Joe Simon, The Atlanta Tams, Drifters, Ollie Woodson, and B.B. King.