Cloverdayle, “Scars”

Self-released single


Former Oregon country duo Cloverdayle will be back at Volcanic Theatre Pub on Wednesday with its first new recorded material since 2015 sophomore album “Off the Grid.” It’s only a single release, “Scars,” but the song packs an emotional punch and an uplifting message that’s close to home for the group.

About four years ago, just before the duo moved to Nashville, vocalist and Bend native Rachel Hamar underwent exploratory surgery. Doctors discovered she was suffering from stage four endometriosis, a disorder in which the tissue lining the inside of the uterus grows on the outside, according to mayoclinic.org. After the surgery, Hamar learned she was not likely to have kids (she and husband/bandmate Chad Hamar had been trying to have kids for some time, she said).

“About year after the surgery, I started working on the chorus,” Rachel Hamar said. “It was kind of in one of my feeling-sorry-for-myself moments, probably. And then it sort of turned into this thing where you sort of shift the mindset and go, yeah, I’ve got scars, but we all have scars of some sort. And it then becomes a universally relatable (theme) to a certain extent.”

“Scars” couples this message with a dramatic backing track that builds from Chad Hamar’s stark acoustic strumming into a panoramic wall of sound, complete with thundering bass drum and yearning piano and pedal steel. Despite the weighty subject matter, the track remains hopeful throughout (if not necessarily upbeat). The duo is currently working on a full-length follow-up to “Off the Grid.”

Cloverdayle, with Rhonda Funk: 7 p.m. Wednesday; $15 plus fees; Volcanic Theatre Pub, 70 SW Century Drive, Bend; volcanictheatrepub.com or 541-323-1881.

4DUB, “Raider Nation IV Life Mixtape Vol. 4”

Breakwater Entertainment

Here’s one out of left field: Did you know there’s a hip-hop group dedicated solely to the NFL’s Oakland Raiders (and no, we’re not talking about N.W.A.)? 4DUB, featuring Bend-based rapper MC Mystic (or Raider Mystic in this project, naturally), recently dropped its fourth mixtape, and has a slew of events coming up in Bend this weekend, including a float in the Bend Christmas Parade and a performance with retired Raiders linebacker Jeff Barnes at the Astro Lounge, both Saturday; and a performance at Summit Lounge on Sunday during halftime of the Chiefs vs. Raiders game.

A confession: I don’t know much about sports, and I know possibly even less about football, a game that has baffled me for as long as I can remember. But as a music and pop culture obsessive, I do understand rabid fan bases. It’s clear that Mystic and fellow MC Mr. Greenleaf have a deep love for the Raiders and its rabid fan base, Raider Nation, and this comes across in both the party-hearty lyrics and presentation (a number of former and current players guest on between-track spoken word passages).

That said, there’s enough here for non-Raiders hip-hop fans to appreciate, at least for a while. The high-energy production by Greenleaf and Moe Z M.D. (Tupac, John Mellencamp) doesn’t let up throughout these 13 tracks, and Greenleaf and Mystic have an easy rapport with each other that helps put across the wacky concept.

After an hour of this, the theme starts to wear a bit thin. But the rappers’ wide-eyed enthusiasm, coupled with the sheer goofy fun of a hip-hop group dedicated to a sports franchise, manages to put that ennui off longer than you might expect.

4DUB with former Raiders linebacker Jeff Barnes: 10 p.m. Saturday; Astro Lounge, 939 NW Bond St., Bend; astroloungebend.com or 541-388-0116.