The Weather Machine today is a much different band from the one that released “Back O’er Oregon” five years ago.

The video for the song, which featured songwriter and frontman Slater Smith performing in 185 Oregon state parks, was the band’s first partnership with Oregon State Parks and Recreation. It premiered on actor Rainn Wilson’s video blog SoulPancake and soon went viral, leading to a whirlwind few years of touring that saw the young band open for roots-rock power players such as Alabama Shakes and The Lumineers.

After two albums, a third album paying homage to the Oregon Coast awaiting release and near-total turnover in the band’s lineup, Sisters native Smith is ready for the next phase of his music career.

“I came to college at 21, 22, and just threw myself really hard at (music),” Smith said from his home in Portland. “I didn’t really have — not so much I didn’t have a plan B, but wanted to find a way to work my plan B into my plan A. (I) wanted to do it as hard as I could unapologetically, and I did that and did some really cool stuff. And then at the end of two or three years, I think we were just really burned out. … And now, we’re coming into a much more adult phase of the project.”

But amidst changes, an old tradition remains. The band, which features Smith, drummer Luke Hoffman, bassist André Zapata, guitarist Tim Karplus and occasional saxophonist Noah Bernstein, will be back in Smith’s hometown for its annual, post-Thanksgiving bash at The Belfry on Saturday.

“We started doing it two or three years ago,” Smith said. “It just makes sense because a bunch of old friends and community members are back in town. If we’re gonna play Sisters once a year anyway, might as well do it that weekend. So we kind of enshrined it and made it a thing.”

Smith still keeps close ties to Sisters, where he got his musical start in the Sisters Folk Festival’s music education program, the Americana Project, in Sisters High School. He and The Weather Machine have come back fairly regularly to perform at the folk festival over the years, most recently this year when the group reunited with cellist Matthew Cartmill.

Cello was a huge part of the band’s sound, especially on 2015 sophomore album “Peach,” which found the band inching closer to indie rock after its folk-leaning, self-titled debut. While Bernstein, a business owner in Portland, can’t always make shows, his contributions have been key to the band’s evolving sound.

“One thing saxophone does add is this kind of raunchy, late-night TV vibe to some of the tunes that I really enjoy,” Smith said. “I think our performances (are) a lot different than (they) used to be, too. It’s a lot less really driving, loud guitars. Our new guitarist, Tim, is sort of like — he’s just a very good player who is able to fit into the texture very well and have a lot of cool ideas. And I’m putting the acoustic guitar down more and more and just singing, as well.”

Single “The Pelican Song,” released last year from the upcoming album “The Pelican,” is a good example of the change. Smith’s low-key vocal and guitar playing connect the song to the band’s past, but with the lighter arrangement and floating saxophone lines, the overall effect is gentler than the rock moves of “Peach.”

Oregon State Parks and Recreation initially commissioned the band last year to write a song to mark the 50th anniversary of the Oregon Beach Bill, which established public access to the state’s beaches in 1967.

“I was like, ‘Well, I don’t know if I can do a single song without it being cheesy, and so how about a record?’” Smith said. “So I did a record instead, and they were gracious enough to let me live out there in the spaces on the coast that winter while I was writing it.”

The project follows “Back O’er Oregon” and another commission in which Smith filmed different bands performing live in state parks. The collaborations make sense, given Smith’s deep appreciation for Oregon’s natural beauty having grown up in Portland and moved to Sisters when he was in elementary school.

“First of all, just living out there, living out in the woods getting an appreciation for (nature) that way,” he said. “When you live out there, you kind of take it for granted, but you also absorb it in a really cool way. And I’d say the other piece of it is just how involved and intentional some of the teachers at the high school were.”

The album, which will be the first credited to Slater Smith & The Weather Machine instead of just The Weather Machine, was due out last year. The band conducted a successful Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the record, and recording is finished. According to Smith, the delay has “just been a matter of trying to find the right time to release it.”

In the meantime, the band is working on a fourth studio album.

“I worked an election-season job and was working 12-hour days for the last four months,” said Smith, who majored in political science. “I knew I’d have some time off right after that, so I booked four days (in the studio) with the band and had some old songs (and) some new songs that I didn’t quite know how to interpret. (I) brought it to the group, and we came up with some really cool arrangements and have six or seven songs. … Stylistically, too, where we’re getting’s really interesting, but I don’t know if I have a lot to compare it to, and that’s a good thing.”