A one-of-a-kind local creative partnership is getting its big-stage spotlight Thursday. It centers on two men: blind Americana musical outlaw Matt Arthur and lauded film and music video director Phil Harder. On the evening of August 14, their talents will intertwine in Minneapolis at the Walker Art Center’s grassy hillside for the latest Sound for Silents, an immersive free outdoor multimedia concert.

Joining Arthur and Harder is an impressively stacked band of local luminaries, including Poliça vocalist Channy Leaneagh, Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner, hip-hop/R&B singer Lady Midnight, and the Jayhawks’ drummer Tim O’Reagan.

As with all Sound for Silents events, the band will soundtrack a series of silent films projected on a big screen. This year’s selections, curated by Harder (director of Cue the Strings – a film about Low, the 2020 feature film Tuscaloosa, and music videos for Prince and Foo Fighters) hit a wide range. They go back to the 1903 silent Western The Great Train Robbery and up to Los Angeles punk band X’s music video “Black and White Ghost” from 1982.

It was sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s that Harder and Arthur first crossed paths. After moving to the Twin Cities from a small town in Wisconsin, Harder saw Arthur singing for a heartland punk outfit called Prest Asbestus. “We always admired his band because of his voice,” Harder says, “and they were very intriguing storytelling songs.”

Soon after that, life sent them in different directions for many years. Until one night, Harder wandered into the 331 Club in northeast Minneapolis and had the realization that Arthur, now with a guitar in hand, was powering through some great Americana standards with his backing band, the Bratlanders. Later, he came back to see Arthur’s current project, the Matt Arthur Contraption.

“I would go every Monday night to 331 to see him play, because I loved it,” Harder says. “He would make up songs right on the stage. I knew what kind of character he was. He had a massive repertoire of covers. He knows more about Americana musical history than pretty much anybody.”

Through conversations between sets at the 331, the two struck up plans to work together. Arthur, who now lives in the small southern Minnesota town of Ellendale, teamed up with Harder to produce his 2024 EP, Runnin’. The collection includes many of Arthur’s longtime collaborators, including Don and Doug Bratland, and the song “One of These Days” was recorded at Sacred Heart Music Center in Duluth with Alan Sparhawk and his son Cyrus.

Originally, the talented Sound for Silents band was set to back up Arthur in a performance including some songs from Runnin’ as well as forthcoming material from a new outlaw-themed full-length album. On June 13, however, Arthur had a stroke. After that, everything was in flux for a bit.

Now, Arthur is still planning to be in attendance, but the rest of the group will step in to sing his songs. “I just said, ‘You know, this is the guy. This is his music. Choose a song,’” Harder says. “And they were all for it. Everybody chose a song they thought would fit them best, because you can't imitate Matt's big, powerful, growly voice.”

Leaneagh, who recently announced the upcoming release of Poliça’s possibly final album, Dreams Go, will perform Arthur’s “The Actor and the Outlaw” accompanied by a beautiful string arrangement.

A few weeks ago, Arthur had recovered enough to begin performing again. He played some songs at Dusty’s in northeast Minneapolis with violinist Faith Escola and guitarist Bill Patton — both of whom will be performing at Sound for Silents as well. Additional players joining them include Nick Salsbury on bass, cellist Jacqueline Ultan, Phala Tracy on harp, Jake Johnson adding violin and guitar, and Allison Labonne and Brian Tighe of The Hang Ups. 

The Dusty’s set was promising enough that Arthur is set to open Sound for Silents onstage. “He’ll sing a very short, beautiful song that sets up the whole story of this outlaw named Billy, his partner, his lady friend named Honey, and his horse named Clyde,” Harder explains. “And then, if he's up for it, he will sing the last song. It's a duet he recorded with Alan Sparhawk called ‘Dreamland,’ and it's another just like very quiet, short song.”

In a recent conversation with Mpls St. Paul magazine’s Steve Marsh, Arthur admitted this arrangement comes with mixed feelings. “I wish I was doing it all,” he said. “But I’m glad Phil can get Dave Pirner and Tim O’Reagan to sing … It means a lot to me to know that I’m respected by people like that.” 

A little while ago, Harder says, Sparhawk sent Arthur a message to check on him and ask if he was OK. The consensus was the Sound for Silents show would go on, regardless. Sparhawk’s reply: “What a king.”

Sound for Silents 2025: Film + Music on the Walker Hillside. Thursday, Aug. 14, at Wurtele Upper Garden at Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. At 7 p.m., The Current’s Bill DeVille will kick things off with a DJ set. The film screening and live performance will follow at 8:30 p.m. Free.