Celebrating the release of a new compact disc and their first local performance of the decade, California Zephyr will bring its rich, folk-inspired harmonies and songs to Copia next week as part of the Community Spotlight Concert series.

Founded here more than three decades ago, this wine country-based ensemble of songwriters and performers has been performing for audiences from coast to coast since the ’70s, blurring the lines between folk, county and bluegrass — tossing in more than adequate dollops of swing, rock and Cajun — to come up with a style all its own.

Band founders Alan Arnopole and Steve Ewert grew up together in Modesto and have been making music together since 1970.

With band members Russ Gauthier and Steve Della Maggiora, they have put together a cornucopia of music that addresses the Napa Valley and the local lifestyle.

As Arnopole puts it, the band’s new CD, “Harvest Time: Songs from the Napa Valley,” is a “melange of sweet harmony, fiery pickin’, souful ballads, funky yodeling, rockin’ rave-ups and even a geological rap.”

It is from this newly minted repertoire that California Zephyr will draw its material for the Feb. 1 concert at Copia — surely, Arnopole acknowledges, the first public performance in these parts since the ’90s.

California Zephyr was the host band for the Napa Valley Music Festival — actually an offshoot of the renowned folk festival held annually in Austin, Texas — which was held throughout the mid-’80s and ’90s at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, Napa Town and Country Fairgrounds and Skyline Park.

The current California Zephyr line-up includes Arnopole — who plays banjo, guitar and percussion and is featured vocalist — and Ewert on guitar and vocals, as well as Arnopole’s son, Alan. The 30-year-old offspring, says a proud papa, “has really been a de facto member of the group since he was born. He’s got a beautiful voice, has even sung opera and is now an important part of our sound. He also plays guitar and percussion.”

A former member of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Russ Gauthier has been in the valley since the late ’60s, relocating here from Michigan. The new CD was recorded in Gauthier’s studio. He plays guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, viola, dulcimer — “you name it, he plays it,” said the senior Arnopole.

Steve Della Maggiora has been a member of the ensemble since the early ’90s. He is the band keyboardist, and plays accordion and bass.

The rhythm section includes well-known local drummer Kevin Dillon and bassist Mike Schnoebelen, who backed up the Manhattan Transfer in recent years.

Special guest for the Feb. 1 Copia performance will be keyboardist/vibraphonist Geoffrey Palmer, once a member of the Bay Area band, Sons of Champlin.

“This is really a release party for our new CD,” noted Arnopole, displaying the novel, attractive package, which contains the CD and a 24-page souvenir booklet with information about and lyrics for all the songs.

Arnopole says the collaborative recording “is our musical vision of the cornucopia that is Napa. It chronicles in song a story of history, landscapes, viticulture, characters and much, much more.

“We wanted to do something about the valley, the place that most of us work and live ... to capture some of the feel and the history of this place for others. So when they play this CD at home, they can’t help but be transported back to wine country.”

In addition to material from the new recording, California Zephyr intends to perform some of the band’s classics for the upcoming Copia show, along with even newer songs the group is readying for yet another CD due out next year.

Tickets for the Feb. 1 performance are $20 and can be reserved by calling 259-1600 or online at www.copia.org.

California Zephyr

Copia Community Spotlight Concert

Thursday, Feb. 1, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $20.

Info: 259-1600 or www.copia.org