Warren musician Otis Read has put out the first disc of solo original music in his 30-year career.

The Providence Journal / Sandor Bodo

Singer-songwriter Otis Read has been living in Rhode Island for roughly 30 years, and is currently best known for his work with the Celtic group The Gnomes. But this weekend he celebrates the release of his first solo CD, Turn a Page.

The disc is a mostly acoustic collection of melodic country-rock winners that Read has written over the past three decades but with a stylistic cohesion and a joyous shagginess that lets the listener breathe.

Songs such as “Wake Me” and “Rainbow” are 30 years old, Read says; “I’m Going Home” is about 15. But a lot of the songs were written during Read’s time in Italy, from 1998 to 2002. He and his then-wife took care of another couple’s farmhouse and were able to relax and focus.

“She was working on her art . . . and I was writing a lot of tunes. It was really good not to have to worry about any other pursuit.”

Highlights include the honeyed title track and the fiddle-driven “Before I Met You,” but the real winner is the breezy one-step of “Like a Javelin,” an ode to the saving power of romance: “I’m on a mission; I’m on a roll; I’m on a run,” Read sings.

Those words were written in Italy, Read says, but they could just as well apply to his current situation. He suffered a stroke in 2005, which he now sees as a mixed blessing: “It’s good; everything’s good,” Read says. “I don’t worry as much; I think it was a good thing.”

At the time, he was playing lead guitar in a Providence reggae band, leading open mikes at the Custom House Tavern and producing for North Star, as well as playing with The Gnomes and giving lessons. “I ended up getting frantic, doing a million things at a time. . . . It was good to chill out and see what my priorities were. Now it’s just getting these CDs out and teaching my students. Just doing it.” Indeed, even though Turn a Page was so long in the making, Read envisions it as the first of four CDs. The next one will be a country disc, then a folk collection, then an R&B set.

None of the songs on Turn a Page were written after his stroke. “I don’t know if I’m going to run into any problems writing, but who cares? Right now I’m not worried about it.”

Read’s backed on the disc by a conglomeration of musicians including Aubrey Atwater, Phil Edmonds, Peter Breen, Mike D’Albergaria and Jim Corwin. All of them have their own commitments, so Read doesn’t see any more solo shows until middle to late summer.

At his home in Warren, Read exults over the sight of the boxes of CDs that had just arrived that morning and exclaims “Oh yeah! Oh nice!” and punches a visitor in the arm when told that the vibe of Turn a Page is reminiscent of country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons.

“It’s been a long time.”

Otis Read plays at the Nirvana Lounge at India Restaurant, 520 Main St., Warren, tomorrow night at 8. Admission is $10; call (401) 245-4500.

Rent party

The Stone Soup Coffeehouse finishes its 27th season with a rent party that includes some of the luminaries of its history as well as some of today’s acoustic folk leaders — the bill includes Jon Fuzek, Kim Lamothe, The Naybobs (including Stone Soup co-founder Kate Katzberg), The Gnomes, Atwater-Donnelly and Soup co-founders Joyce Katzberg and Bill Harley. Sounds like a good, loud, politically charged, mostly loud time. N.B.: The party is NOT at Stone Soup itself, but at The Blackstone, 1005 Main St., Pawtucket, Saturday at 4. Admission is $25; call (401) 921-5115 or go to www.stonesoupcoffeehouse.com.

Local Robillard

And Rhode Island blues legend Duke Robillard makes a local appearance at the Lighthouse Bar at Twin River, off Route 116 in Lincoln, Saturday night at 10. It’s free! Call (877) 827-4837.

rmassimo@projo.com