Thom Enright, in his Warwick home, will be the beneficiary of an all-star show today in Providence. Enright has brain cancer.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

If you put all the bands Thom Enright has played guitar and bass with in his more than 30 years on the scene end-to-end on one bill, it would make for a jam-packed Rhode Island all-star event that would start in the afternoon and last well into the night. And that’s exactly what’s about to happen.

Today’s eight-hour benefit for guitarist and bassist Enright includes some of the biggest names to come out of Rhode Island in the past few decades — John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Roomful of Blues, Duke Robillard and more — and the common link is Enright. Now that brain cancer has Enright unable to ply his trade, they’re coming together for him.

The fact that so many former and current partners are coming out to play for him leaves Enright “overwhelmed,” a word he uses more than once during a conversation at his Warwick home.

It had never occurred to him how many friends he had made in the night-in, night-out grind until now, he says. “You never realize what people think about you until you get in these weird situations. I just went out and did my gigs and packed up and went home. To have these people come out and show so much support, it’s overwhelming.”

Enright was working at T.F. Green Airport (a few minutes from the house he shares with his girlfriend, Olga Jansen) driving a shuttle van at the long-term parking lot when he suffered a seizure on July 27. He describes the feeling as “like somebody hit me with a cattle prod.”

“When this happened, there were no real obvious signs,” Enright says. He had occasional numbness in his left arm, and he noticed that his timing was a little off, particularly in the coordination between singing and playing. But when he mentioned these things, no one else had noticed.

Tests determined that he had a glioma — a golf-ball-sized tumor that was cancerous. He had surgery four days later. They removed about 80 per cent of it. After that, he underwent six weeks of chemotherapy, and says now that “everything is about where they expected it to be.” The glioma hasn’t grown since the operation, which is a relatively good sign.

But there is no cure. “You just have to hope for the best and work your way through it.” He will start some experimental treatments this week at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

“It takes a toll every now and then,” he says. “It’s just so unbelievable to me that such a thing could happen to someone. My life just stopped that day. And I have to adjust. I do all right most of the time, but every once in a while….”

At the time of his seizure, Enright, 56, was freelancing, and doing ad hoc shows with players such as Marty Ballou, Bob Christina, Keith Munslow and Paul Geremia.

Enright took the parking-lot job because he was having trouble making ends meet as a musician — he can’t remember the last official job he’d held — but it turned out to be a blessing. He had just qualified for health insurance when he was stricken.

He’s unable to work or do much physical activity, so he’s on Social Security. He takes walks and tries to stay physically active. “It’s a hard change of lifestyle. (Snaps his fingers.) That quick.”

Tom Petterutti and Tom Ferraro, a drummer and guitarist respectively who have worked with Enright for years, have organized the show with a bill full of bands that Enright has played with over the years.

Petterutti has known and played with Enright for 20 years, most notably in Brass Attack. “He’s a professional musician,” Petterutti says of Enright, “and that’s a tough life. You don’t work, you don’t get paid.”

Ferraro has played with Enright in many different settings over the 25 years they’ve known each other. “When I was getting out there and starting to play blues” in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Ferraro says, “he was one of the guys you went out to see.”

He says he told Enright, “‘Man, you’re my hero.’ He said ‘Aw, shut up.’

“He’s got a great attitude, and he’s staying positive. He’s handling this a lot better than I would.”

“He was a little reluctant at first” to have a show like this, Petterutti says, “because he doesn’t want something for nothing.”

Ferraro says that he and Petterutti sat him down and told him, “We don’t want this to be a benefit so much as a celebration of your life. This is to help you. If some of that money comes your way, then fine. But this is really a big party for you.”

That concept hits Enright hard.

“It’s amazing,” he says, then stares off. “I mean, I never —” He tears up. “Never expected such a thing to happen. Just people coming together and showing support, it’s overwhelming….”

He’s had time to recognize the trail of friends he’s made in his career. “You go through the routine of doing what you do …” He tears up again.

Enright hasn’t played any music in public since July, and continues to practice at home. He says he’s “about 75 percent of what I need to be” to get back out there. And except for an appearance at the recent birthday party for Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel owner Rich Lupo, he hasn’t been out to hear any music either.

“It’s very traumatic, not to be able to do what you’re supposed to do,” he says — not just because of the music itself, but because of the interaction with fellow musicians, who he calls “just wonderful people. I really miss them.”

But Enright says he’ll make it to the show.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay, but I’ll be there.

“It’ll be a good day.”

The benefit for Thom Enright happens at the Hi-Hat, 3 Davol Square, Providence, today from 3 to 11 p.m. and features John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band, Roomful of Blues, Duke Robillard, Brass Attack, James Montgomery, Rizzz, Ken Lyon and Tombstone and The Pink Tuxedos. Admission is $20; call (401) 453-6500.

rmassimo@projo.com