Paul Eddy has played in more than his share of Central Oregon bands over the past 20 years, including The Substitutes, JuJu Eyeball and his namesake project, Long Tall Eddy.

These days, though, he’s mostly going solo — in more ways than one.

As a live performer, Eddy plays regularly at local retirement communities.

“I absolutely love those gigs. I love the audience. They’re just older folks that love the old-timey songs, which I love to sing,” he said. “I don’t think it’s for everybody, but it works really well for me.”

Penning a love letter

As a creator, Eddy has taken to writing his reliably catchy pop-rock songs and recording them entirely on his own at his off-grid home east of Bend. His first effort was “Here I Am,” released in 2020, during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Then, in March, he followed it up with “Oregonian” — an exercise in writing, as they say, about what you know.

“I wanted to try to write some songs that maybe had a chance at meaning something to somebody else,” he said. “So I thought, well, why don’t I write about living in Oregon? I’ve done that for a while. I grabbed a piece of paper and started brainstorming song titles off the top of my head, and a melody often followed from there.”

At nine tracks long, “Oregonian” is both a love letter to Eddy’s life in Central Oregon and an audio tour, of sorts, of his musical interests and influences: Mostly Beatles- and Beach Boys-style pop, with some fuzzed-out punk, jaunty jazz, pulsing new wave and twangy folk mixed in here and there. With an arsenal of instruments at his fingertips and nifty recording software on his laptop, Eddy can make himself sound sometimes like a guy-and-guitar singer-songwriter, and other times like power-pop giants Fountains of Wayne.

Local flavors

Local listeners will find many familiar wayposts on “Oregonian.” The opening track, “Sunny Sunny,” is a surf-pop ode to Bend, with references to Strictly Organic Coffee, Boneyard Beer and the Deschutes River. “Bundled Up (And Waiting For The Band)” tells the story of a gig at Spoken Moto. “All The Stars” is a gorgeous tune about the sparkling night sky ‘round these parts. And “Dispensary Girl” is about exactly what it sounds like it’s about.

Every sound you hear on “Oregonian” was played by Eddy, who grew up in a musical family in Vancouver, Wash. By the time he was 5, he was playing piano, and later, when he started joining bands, he learned how to play bass and guitar. He programmed the drums on the new album, but he can play a drum kit, too.

“Bit by bit, it sort of just accumulated, and I can basically play all the instruments in a rock band,” he said. “So even though I did all the instruments, it’s kind of like a band effort, in a way.”

It’s also an intensely personal effort, of course. Eddy said recording “Oregonian” on his own has made him a better songwriter by forcing him to think about how others might perceive his work.

“When you’re writing music, you can almost get too inside of it, you know? It’s really good to be able to step away and look at it objectively,” he said. “And I was able to do that way more on this one because I had this concept that other people may be listening to it and enjoying it, so I wanted to focus on the audience and not just the artist.”

In doing that, he came out with a product that he’s really proud of, and now he’s turning his attention toward the next one.

“I feel like this album opened up the door (for me) to what it takes to make a song sound good,” Eddy said, “and I feel like I can do even better.”

Listen to Paul Eddy’s new album at pauleddy.bandcamp.com.

If You Go

What: Paul Eddy

When: 6-8 p.m. Friday, May 9

Where: Ponch’s Place, 62889 NE Oxford Court, Bend

Cost: Free

Contact: 541-236-5426