Musicians rally around sidelined songwriter for Walker’s Sound for Silents

A popular series that pairs new music with old silent movies, Sound for Silents is being recast this year to also showcase a veteran Minnesota musician who has been partially silenced.

He happens to be blind, too — giving new meaning to him being a cinematic songwriter.

Walker Art Center’s annual pairing of innovative modern musicians with early-pioneer filmmakers is putting a spotlight on Matt Arthur, a rootsy gospel-folk musician from southern Minnesota.

The dramatically bellowing, 60-year-old song picker was booked months ago to perform a batch of new songs at Thursday’s outdoor screening of silent films from the museum’s permanent collection. However, Arthur suffered a stroke on June 13. He is still working his way back to perform again.

Rather than call off the show, this year’s Sound for Silents curator Philip Harder — a filmmaker with ample music connections — lined up an all-star cast to help perform Arthur’s music alongside the films. Among the musicians now set to appear are Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum, Poliça’s Channy Leaneagh, the Jayhawks’ Tim O’Reagan, Lady Midnight, Brian Tighe and Alison LaBonne of the Starfolk, Bill Patten and many well-known instrumentalists.

Harder praised the Walker for standing by his vision of matching Arthur’s songs with this year’s batch of silents, and he thanked the other singers and players for stepping in to keep the event on track.

“There’s something about these very unique songs and these really crazy films from that era that just go well together,” said the filmmaker.

On the film side, the program will feature excerpts from “The Wind” (1928) by Victor Sjöström, starring Lillian Gish; Jean Epstein’s “The Fall of House of Usher” (1928); Allan Dwan’s “Stage Struck” (1925), with Gloria Swanson; and from the Walker’s own Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection, Edwin S. Porter’s “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) and Hans Richter’s “Ghosts Before Breakfast” (1928).

Harder and the Walker also got permission from members of the legendary Los Angeles punk band X to use the music video for their 1982 song “Because I Do,” which mimicked classic silent films to match the refrain, “I am a black and white ghost.”

“It fits in perfectly,” said Harder, who sees elements of punk-rock and Americana music in the silent movies being shown.

“The medium was still developing, so there are raw and experimental elements to it. And it was before everyone was confined to studios, so the cameras and the people and landscape in front of them really move.”

In Harder’s mind, those traits also matched the idea of using songs by a visually impaired songwriter, whom he called “a punk rocker at heart.”

“But Phil knows me and knows what I’m about, so I trust his instinct,” Arthur said. “It’s too bad things got messed up by my stroke.”

Arthur still plans to attend the Sound for Silents show. He’s hoping to sing at least a couple of the songs on the docket, too. However, he said his singing and guitar playing skills “are not coming back as fast as I’d like.

“It’s like having to learn how to do it all over again,” he said.

Arthur has been picking his way around dive bars, blues clubs and punk-rock venues since the 1990s. Alan Sparhawk of Low helped him make his last record, 2024’s “Runnin’ EP.” Of late, he’s maintained a monthly gig at Palmer’s Bar, whose old-school ruggedness matches his own.

He has one last Palmer’s show lined up for Aug. 27. Since the bar is scheduled to close mid-September, he said he’s “going to try like hell” to be there for it.

“It was an honor to be asked, and it’s even more of an honor now.”

When: 7 p.m. Thu.

Where: Wurtele Upper Garden, Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place, Mpls.