Big Bone Daddy, the blues-rock band featuring frontman Bill DeHart of Bowmanstown, returns to the Bath Blues & Brews festival on Saturday.

The act, marking its third appearance at the event in as many years, will perform from 5 to 6:15 p.m. in the Red Wolf Bar & Grille’s backyard on West Main Street.

Aside from DeHart on guitar and lead vocals, Big Bone Daddy consists of: Paul Berger, guitar and vocals; Ric Carhart, bass and vocals; Jim Flynn, drums and vocals; Marc Young, keyboards; Ken Fink, saxophone; and Ray Higgins, harmonica.

Born and raised in Changewater, New Jersey, DeHart - a Bowmanstown resident for about 20 years - always wanted to play music.

“I’m not sure where that came from, because nobody in my family was musical,” he said. “In seventh grade, I went to a party with a live band, and I really dug the vibe. All the people enjoying themselves and dancing. I wanted to do that.”

Acquiring his first record player around that time, DeHart “must’ve drove my mom nuts” playing a 45 of the Everly Brothers’ “Bird Dog” over and over again, “until I got another record. Then it was Elvis, and then the Stones, Zeppelin, Jeff Beck.”

DeHart, whose introduction to playing live music was on drums in grammar school, played trumpet circa 1966/1967 before learning guitar.

For a year or two, DeHart played with Oasis, “a typical kid-pop, rock-cover band. I wanted to play originals. They wanted to play The Monkees.”

DeHart’s first rock original/cover band, Dee-Hart, toured from 1978 to 1992 or so, releasing an album, “Some of Us are Losers,” in 1979. DeHart played guitar and sang backup.

“We toured the eastern U.S. and Canada. I learned a lot about people, money, management, and also improved musically, because that’s all we did - play, sleep and drive to the next town. It was awesome. A lot of work, but a lot of fun.”

In 1982, Dee-Hart finished second in the Lehigh Valley’s Miller High Life competition. In turn, the group scored a spot on WZZO’s “Z-95 Valley Rock” album, part of the “Rock to Riches” series. The next year, the band released a single, “Jolain Jolain.”

Dee-Hart, after losing its singer to cancer, experienced a musical lull. Needing a guitar player, a friend recruited DeHart for the band that eventually became Big Bone Daddy.

Though Bone Daddy was the favored name, “when Googled, there were a zillion Bone Daddy’s,” DeHart said. “Then my wife said, ‘you are my big bone daddy.’ So there it was.”

DeHart quit the rock-cover version of the band, formed in 1999, in 2010. The group lasted six months thereafter, leaving DeHart, in 2012, to start the band he has now. “Since the name was mine and there was a good fanbase, I took it back.”

Big Bone Daddy’s “All My Life,” in 2017, made it to the first round of consideration for the 60th Grammy Awards. The track, which DeHart arranged, was listed in the category of Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals.

In early 2020, Big Bone Daddy released a 15-track album, “Got It.” DeHart, who wrote 10 of the tracks - including “All My Time” - and co-wrote another, sang lead on every cut. “After many vocal lessons and finally finding my comfort zone, ya can’t shut me up.”

Shortly after the album release, the musician and owner of DeHart Tile developed health issues. With the COVID-19 pandemic pausing live shows, DeHart took care of his health.

“The next two years until now, I am just getting over cancer and the removal of my prostate,” DeHart said. “My recovery is good and all is positive. We are working on new material and a new album; original and some traditional blues in there.”

Big Bone Daddy, when performing, plays originals, plus covers of acts such as The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, ZZ Top and James Brown. DeHart noted that ArtsQuest venues and stages, such as Musikfest in Bethlehem, rank among the band’s favorite places to perform.

“Musikfest is always like the Super Bowl for most of us,” he said. “The highlight of the year. We’re lucky enough to be down there for nine years in a row now.”

Another career highlight came in 2022, when Big Bone Daddy won the Times News’ Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Local Band/Musician. The group received a nomination this year in the same category.

Following Bath Blues & Brews, DeHart’s future gigs include October shows with bandmate Berger at the Taylor House Brewing Co. in Catasauqua and the Bowmanstown Volunteer Fire Company station. The full band will play the Slatington Farmers Market in January.

Though DeHart enjoys performing regionally, “I miss touring. I felt most productive during that time. Of course, I wasn’t working eight hours a day and raising kids.

“I still wanna play the Netherlands, Amsterdam and Australia,“ he continued. “I always wanted to tour different countries, which isn’t out of the question. We’re still looking for management and booking for this band. Life’s not over yet.”