Guitarist Eric Clapton to hold benefit for Crossroads, his drug rehab center

LOS ANGELES -- Eric Clapton is having a jam session with more than a dozen of his favorite guitar-playing pals, and everyone is invited.

Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival, scheduled for July 28 in the Chicago suburb of Bridgeview, Ill., will benefit Crossroads Centre, the drug-rehab facility he founded in Antigua a decade ago. Tickets go on sale Saturday.

Scheduled performers include B.B. King, Willie Nelson, Vince Gill, Sheryl Crow, Jeff Beck and John Mayer, among others -- and Clapton is already excited about spontaneous collaborations.

"Some of it's mapped and some of it isn't," he said by phone from Winnipeg, Canada, where he is on tour. "We have to leave a little bit of it to chance."

This will be the second concert Clapton, 62, has held to raise funds for the Caribbean rehab facility, which now includes a halfway house and community-education program. The first concert was in Dallas in 2004.

Establishing the rehab center fulfilled a personal dream, Clapton said.

"I haven't had a drink or drug for quite a long time and it's changed my life completely. That's something I want to pass on and share with other people," he said.