Nahko Bear is finally telling his origin story, 10 years and three albums into his musical career with Medicine for the People.

The singer-songwriter and activist’s first solo album, “My Name is Bear,” released in October, features songs written more than a decade ago, when Bear was between the ages of 18 and 21. During these formative years, Bear spent two summers in Alaska and a year in Hawaii, with stops in Louisiana and his native Portland, according to his website; he found his first love, reverted to his birth name from his adopted name, David Bell, and met his birth mother and her family, learning about his Puerto Rican and Apache heritage (Bear claims Native American, Filipino and Puerto Rican ancestry).

“It awakened a lot of my past,” Bear said recently from Berlin, where he was visiting with friends and family about a week before kicking off Medicine for the People’s summer tour. The band will headline the Cascade Mountain Stage on the second day of the 11th 4 Peaks Music Festival, which takes place from June 21 through 24.

“… I really had to listen to myself singing these songs over and over again — in the course of recording, you listen to that stuff over and over again. And the irony of these songs yet again in my life — I’m listening to myself say this stuff to myself years ago, and I’m like, ‘gosh, why didn’t I listen to myself?’ And on the other hand, it was also just really beautiful to finally hear the songs the way that I sort of heard them in my head so many years ago.”

It goes without saying the album was a long time coming. Bear said he always meant to record these songs, and found time last spring in between Medicine for the People tours.

“It was totally a DIY record,” he said. “We recorded it in my friend’s closet, basically, and my bass player, Patricio, co-produced it with me. I’ve always been the kind of person doing it myself — certainly no qualms with being able to get second opinions from people that do it for a living, and that’s what we did. But I feel like we’re developing a sound, and ‘My Name is Bear’ was another step towards learning what that sound is as a band.”

All this history makes “My Name is Bear” the most personal album Bear has released. The often intimate set stands in stark contrast to the previous three Medicine for the People albums, which established the band’s reputation for wide-ranging world music, strident socio-political activism and self-empowerment anthems. But live, the collective — guitarist Chase Makai, drummer Justin Chittims, bassist Patricio Zuñiga Labarca (who also produced “My Name is Bear”), trumpeter Max Ribner and violinist Tim Snider — has taken this music to another level, Nahko said.

“We’re all storytelling here, and expanding beyond the songs themselves for (the) live (show),” Bear said. “We really are a live band — that’s really what’s fun for us. So they’ve had a blast — we’ve had a blast collaborating on it as well. It was endearing to witness audiences (that) sort of already know all the songs pretty much. When YouTube first came out, that was when I started putting those songs out, so die-hard fans have been waiting for this stuff to come out for many years.”

Bend fans can hear for themselves at 4 Peaks, which returns for the second year to D.M. Stevenson Ranch. The festival marked its first decade last year with the move to the larger venue, from longtime home Rockin’ A Ranch in Tumalo.

This year, fans can expect favorite activities from past years to return, including morning yoga, the late-night Silent Discos and the Movie Under the Stars. The campground area has been expanded and includes a quiet zone, a tent-only zone and a GoWesty Camper area. The family-friendly Kidlandia area features perhaps the most significant expansion, with a full schedule of performers and events and a playhouse donated by Hayden Homes.

Of course, the main draw is the music, including the onstage performers and the late-night jam sessions the festival has become known for. Performers include returning favorites Poor Man’s Whiskey (the band hasn’t missed a 4 Peaks yet); regional acts such as Scott Pemberton and The Mother Hips; and headliners Greensky Bluegrass, Particle and Tyler Grant.

“Personally, this is my favorite lineup that 4 Peaks has ever had,” festival organizer and co-founder Stacy Koff said. “I’m really excited to welcome back Greensky bluegrass; I’m super excited to have North Mississippi Allstars, New Mastersounds, Particle and Steve Kimock as first-timers that I have wanted for a year or two now. It just combines funk, jam, Americana, folk and bluegrass all in one weekend, which is so much fun to have variety.”

Bear sounded just as excited about the lineup during his brief conversation with GO! Magazine. He’s also excited to play close to home — he returned to the Portland area last year after living in Los Angeles for four years.

“I loved living in L.A. People always talk smack about it, but it’s always just kind of like — the majority of my life I’ve just been a chameleon, so I can find cool things about wherever I’m at,” Bear said. “… Everybody has to come through L.A. for work, so I could see a bunch of my artist and surfer or music friends whenever they would come through. But I wasn’t there very much the four years that I lived there. I was just on the road a lot, but it was a nice home base for when I needed it. But I’m definitely happy to be back in the seasonal weather of Cascadia, be more near my family, have more space to spread out.”