The latest Bass Day celebration will bring a 65-bass army to the Motown Museum on Saturday

Perhaps nothing was more crucial to the Motown sound than the bass guitar — and it’ll be out in full force Saturday at Hitsville, U.S.A.

The 11th annual Bass Day will take over the grounds of the Motown Museum starting at noon, featuring up to 65 bassists accompanying a house band to jam along with a host of classic tunes.

Founded in 2013 by Kern Brantley as a tribute to the late, great Funk Brothers bassist James Jamerson, the free event has become a staple of the museum’s late-summer calendar, summoning a mass low-end rumble at Motown’s birthplace. From an initial lineup of a dozen bassists and about 100 onlookers, it has grown in scope and sound.

Brantley — an accomplished Detroit musician whose resume includes work with Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and more — will lead the house band for the four-hour program, which will include a tribute to the Four Tops’ recently deceased Duke Fakir and a performance of the group’s “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”

It’s one of a slew of Motown hits in the Saturday set list, which includes songs by the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Rick James, the Commodores and Teena Marie.

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The day will close out with what a jam session, open to anyone in the crowd of musicians who wants to hop up and play along, in what Brantley describes as a “Soul Train line of bass players.”

Also scheduled to appear is Annie Jamerson, widow of the iconic Motown bassist whose work has influenced players across generations and genres.

As for the 65 bass players who will fill the Motown Museum plaza Saturday afternoon, they range from veteran players such as Ralphe Armstrong to newcomers who have been welcomed to the occasion “as long as they’re in key and in tune,” as Brantley says.

Bass Day at Motown Museum

Noon-4 p.m. Sat.

2648 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit

Free

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: The latest Bass Day will bring a 65-bass army to the Motown Museum