This year has been difficult, to put it mildly. We’re dealing with a pandemic raging out of control and ongoing protests against racial injustice coming to a head in the public consciousness (that one’s long, long overdue). To top it all off, it’s an election year. But as these pages have proven time and again, when the going gets tough, the artists get going. Even on lockdown, Central Oregon has seen an influx of work from its creative communities, from music to visual art to theater. And these artists more often than not refuse to shy away from tackling this moment in history head on. This week, we go in-depth with two musicians who recently released timely and powerful singles. Crank the speakers or headphones and dive in.

Standing in solidarity

But first, it’d be remiss not to mention the Black Lives Matter Solidarity Celebration at Worthy Brewing on Friday.

Speakers at the event will include House Rep. Peter Defazio, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel and Bend City Council candidates Anthony Broadman and Rita Schenkelberg.

Mosley Wotta will headline the live music, with support from MC Ragtop, whose June single, “It Ain’t Right,” has become an anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement in Central Oregon; traveling bass wizard (and now Bendite) Milo Matthews; and singer-songwriter Sean Alan, who has soundtracked many Central Oregon protests.

The celebration begins at 6 p.m. and is free to attend (masks and social distancing required). Worthy also will donate $20,000 to Oregon-based nonprofits Don’t Shoot Portland, the

Oregon Justice Resource Center, Kaycee Anseth Legacy Foundation and Cada Casa, according to the Facebook event page (facebook.com/events/779124746164524/).

“Blame,” Pessimist Rex

Jason Schweitzer, known for his work with Bend groups Natty Red and The Rum and the Sea, moved into unknown territory this year with Pessimist Rex.

The singer-songwriter’s past projects were known for soulful singing, roots-rock and reggae vibes and powerful songwriting. But Schweitzer wanted to work on something on his own in his home studio. The first song from that project, “That Something,” a dark, lo-fi hip-hop track far removed from anything he’d done previously.

“It really just came out of a need to be able to take a track from start to finish on my own,” Schweitzer said. “At the time that I started putting it together I was kind of in a weird head state. I was feeling these really pessimistic views on things in general, and feeling like I was the king of being a pessimist at that point in my life.”

He released another hip-hop single, “Systemic Pandemic,” around the time the COVID lockdown started.

Pessimist Rex’s latest single, “Blame,” dropped Aug. 12 on Youtube with a lyric video (youtube.com/watch?v=vgbEpx99C8c), and debuted on 92.9-FM last week. The song, a similarly minimalist hip-hop track featuring rapid-fire rhyming over glitchy beats and bluesy guitar, directly addresses the Black Lives Matter movement, with a chorus that explicitly lays out Schweitzer’s viewpoint: “Rise up or sit the f— back down.”

“I just am so tired of the division of it and really wanted to speak directly to the point: This is what’s going on, this is my view of it, this is what we need to do and this is ridiculous that we’re at this point,” Schweitzer said. “This is ridiculous that we’re having this much tension and pushback still. … Speak up and stand up and do your part, and if you’re not one of the people that’s pushing for change right now, then sit the f— back down because it’s not your time.”

Schweitzer has also released “Wild,” a more folk-leaning acoustic song, under the Pessimist Rex moniker, and is working on more songs that span the gamut from bluegrass to country and more.

“No More,” Jeshua Marshall featuring Pedro Erazo and Todd Rosenberg

Anyone who’s familiar with Jeshua Marshall’s work in Larry and His Flask or Guardian of the Underdog knows he doesn’t mince words.

Even still, “No More” may be the most direct song Marshall has written. The song references the turmoil of the last few months, specifically mentioning George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others by name before exploding in a punk-rock chorus chant: “No more, no more police brutality!”

The song officially releases Sept. 11 through Bandcamp (jeshuamarshallmusic.bandcamp.com/track/no-more-2), with all proceeds of sales made through Oct. 9 going to the Central Oregon Diversity Project and Central Oregon Peacekeepers, two groups on the front lines of Black Lives Matter protests in Bend and Prineville.

“Unfortunately it’s like same s—, different decade,” Marshall said. “Like, wait, why is this still going on? I know some people are still denying it’s a problem, but it’s pretty obvious to most folks. If you want to just take a little bit of time to research in case you grew up in a way where you didn’t have to know that it was a problem. It doesn’t take very much time to figure out this is still happening.”

Marshall recorded the song with Todd Rosenberg of Mad Caddies in his Bend studio (Rosenberg also plays drums). Gogol Bordello’s Pedro Erazo sings the final verse, which slows down to a half-time stomp.

“When I started really working on my solo material (Marshall also released the single ‘Go Go’ in June), I had him in mind for something,” Marshall said. “And then I just wrote this track real quick — pretty much wrote it in a day — and then got into the studio a couple of days later. So I had in mind; I was like, this song could be really cool with him on it. … I felt like his voice would fit it really well, and also just his lyrics and his message of his other music just goes right in line with this.”

Marshall has been working with Rosenberg since the pandemic hit Oregon, and has plans to continue releasing singles “every six weeks or so.”

Guardian of the Underdog is also close to releasing its debut album, half of which was recorded at The Firing Room with Dayne Wood, with the other half completed at Parkway Sounds with Scott Oliphant.