Longtime Central Oregon musician Jeshua Marshall, leader of Guardian of the Underdog and longtime bassist in Larry and his Flask, releases his first solo record this week.

Depending on how long one has been paying attention to Central Oregon’s music scene, Jeshua Marshall could be best known in a couple different ways: (Relative) long-timers surely remember him as the wild-eyed tornado of a bass player for folk-punk road warriors Larry and His Flask, one of the most successful bands ever to come out of the region.

Those who’ve arrived more recently, on the other hand, may recognize Marshall as one of the busiest musicians in town, as frontman of Guardian of the Underdog and a contributor to a bunch of other bands, too.

“Last year at the Bend Roots Revival,” Marshall said, “I played 10 different sets during the weekend.”

Nearly a year later, Marshall is preparing for a new phase of his career: solo artist. Just 34 years old — but with nearly two decades of singing, writing songs, recording and touring under his belt — Marshall will release his first solo album, “Shoot The Moon,” this week.

He had an album release show scheduled for Saturday night at Volcanic Theatre pub, but that has been postponed because of the local surge of COVID-19 cases. As of this writing, the show has been rescheduled for Oct. 9.

For Marshall, his evolution into a solo act is rooted in his time with the Flask, when he wrote songs but always deferred to the guys in the band who were naturally better singers.

And then, in the summer of 2014, Mike Brown was killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri — a high-profile case that set off a wave of protests and revived the national conversation about police brutality against African Americans.

“Something shifted when that happened and I started to be more vocally political and more outspoken about Black Lives Matter. I started getting sober and speaking up more,” Marshall said. “That was the point when I was like, ‘I’m really going to work on being able to sing, because I have shit I need to say and stuff to get off my chest.”

On “Shoot The Moon,” Marshall’s voice sounds steady and suffused with passion on songs about his mother (“Mama’s Boy”), infatuation gone wrong (“Go Go”), Central Oregon’s natural landscape (“Ochoco Hills”) and the 2020 murder of George Floyd (“No More”). Sonically, the album is a spirited take on Americana, with horns, Latin flair and punk energy coursing through Marshall’s twangy folk-rock songs.

The album features a bunch of “great local players,” Marshall said, as well as a couple of big-name guests: Fredo Ortiz, who has drummed for Los Lobos and the Beastie Boys, and percussionist Pedro Erazo of the New York City punk band Gogol Bordello. Marshall collaborated closely and recorded with Todd Rosenberg, drummer for California ska/reggae band Todd Rosenberg, who recently finished building a backyard studio at his home in Bend.

In other words, even with COVID-19 putting a wrench into the plans of musicians everywhere — including Marshall’s — he went all out in an effort to make the best of his solo debut. That effort lines up perfectly with the overall theme of the album, in Marshall’s eyes.

“It’s called ‘Shoot The Moon’ because it’s about going for it, basically. It’s a new chapter, in a way,” he said. “Exploring a new realm, baring it all, not hiding behind any kind of name or past project. It’s about putting it all on the line and seeing what happens.”