We didn’t realize we’d have a musical night when my family met at the Pequaywan Inn on Saturday, but we had a good time taking part in a Name That Tune contest. The talented Jim Holbeck played part of a song on his guitar, and we were pressed to come up with the title, the artist, the album, and the year.
Between the four of us, we scrounged up second place. My husband was confused that I could sing every lyric to a song and still blank on the title. Some songs tuck their names into places only the musicians seem to know.
A new, unreleased song I heard recently from The Scarlet Goodbye doesn’t do that. “Silver Bay” sings its own name in the chorus, wrapped in the cold December and the quiet ache of someone leaving for a place that feels like a promise. It’s a song shaped by the same landscape we live in up here, the same cold, the same quiet, the same stubborn hope.
Earlier this week, I spoke with Jeff Arundel of The Scarlet Goodbye about the band’s upcoming show in Silver Bay and the story behind the song. Arundel and bandmate Dan Murphy, of Soul Asylum and Golden Smog, will be the final act in Silver Bay’s summer concert series, a return visit he’s been looking forward to.
“We have done it once before, and it was awesome,” he said.
He has a cabin near Little Marais, a place that makes these North Shore shows feel like a homecoming.
“We play three or four shows up there a summer, and we get to stay at the cabin,” he said. “This time it’s our full band, so we really love it because then we get a couple days at the cabin too.”
The full band is a talented crew: drummer Ben Peterson, multi-instrumentalist Pat Frederick of the 1970s Daisy Dillman Band, bass player Cale Reed, and Arundel and Murphy.
“We can play as an acoustic duo,” he said. “We can play as a threesome with Pat Frederick, we can play as a foursome with Pat and Cale, and then we can play as the full band. So we can go all the way from acoustic duo to kind of rock band fivesome.”
That flexibility has served them well, especially because Arundel and Murphy came together in an unexpected way. They’ve been accused of being “the most unlikely mash-up in Minnesota music history,” which is something they take great pride in.
“Chemistry is elusive,” Arundel said. “You can think going into something that this chemistry is going to be amazing, but it’s not. And then you can find unexpected chemistry.”
Both musicians had been working in the Twin Cities and beyond for decades, but had never crossed paths.
“I didn’t listen to Soul Asylum, and they never listened to my music,” he said.
Murphy had left Soul Asylum years earlier and wasn’t playing much at all back when the two met in 2019. Murphy visited Arundel’s attic studio, listened to a few things, and surprised himself.
“He said, wow, I really miss this,” Arundel recalled. “And I said, why don’t you come over and just fool around a little bit. And one thing led to another and all of a sudden we were writing a song.”
Arundel has written many songs over the years, but very few with anyone else. Murphy had written some, but wasn’t the primary songwriter in Soul Asylum.
“It just was this weird thing where all of a sudden this weird thing started happening,” Arundel said. “It had elements of what I had done, which is basically be a troubadour. And it had elements of what Dan had done, which is to be this kind of punky, edgy rocker. And it was this weird mashup that we liked, both of us.”
They liked each other too, which helped.
“It’s a little like romance,” he said. “Maybe a little clumsy and awkward at first, and then you get to know each other.”
Seven years later, they’re working on their third album.
“I think we’ve gotten better at it,” Arundel said. “I think we both feel really comfortable with what we do.”
Their sound has settled into something recognizable but hard to categorize. Critics often describe it as classic 70s, but fresh.
“You don’t always create a sound when you do this,” he said. “I think we’ve kind of created a thing, which is hard to do. When you’re making it, you don’t exactly know how it sounds. You’re too inside of it.”
“She’s a Fire,” their recent single, has been well received, including a four-week run at number one on an indie rock platform in Spain.
Their next single, “Losing the Only Game in Town,” came out August 14. Arundel described it as a song about aging.
“It starts with this kind of symphonic opening, and then it drifts into this Durango kind of Western feeling thing,” he said. “It’s about the creeping feeling of irrelevancy as you get older. We sometimes tiptoe into this other kind of life experience stuff.”
Their spring tour took them through Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland.
“It was amazing,” Arundel said. “The cultures are so strong, and their love of music is so strong.”
When I asked about “Silver Bay,” he sent me the file so I could hear it myself. Arundel explained the narrative.
“There’s a desolation up there,” he said. “And the narrative of the song Silver Bay is that she’s leaving to go to Silver Bay. Meaning wherever they are now, it’s more desolate than that. She’s leaving to go to the promised land, Silver Bay.”
He believes the song will resonate with people who know the town.
“It’s a little desolate,” he said. “But I think it will make people feel that reality, that that’s part of Silver Bay.”
The band will play “Silver Bay” at the upcoming show, along with favorites and three new songs.
“We’re playing a lot and writing a lot and making a lot of music,” Arundel said. “I feel like we’re at the top of our game.”
He hopes for good weather, stating, “I hope it’s one of those beautiful August nights. There’s a little northern forest wind caressing everybody. Then we can all just connect with each other.”
Before we wrapped up, I asked a question that surprised him: is Scarlet a color or a name? He laughed.
“You know what? That question has never been posed,” he said. “The thing that Dan and I like about the name is we just like the kind of mystery of the name. It’s such a good word. I gotta ask Dan what he thinks.”
The Scarlet Goodbye returns to the City Center Park Stage on Friday, August 21, performing from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. as part of the 2026 Silver Bay Music in the Park Concert Series presented by Rocky Wall Entertainment. The concert is free and open to the public, and attendees are welcome to bring lawn chairs or blankets.
The band will also perform at a ticketed Rocky Wall Benefit House Concert fundraiser on Saturday, August 22, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Seating is limited. Visit rockywallentertainment.org for tickets and more information.
The band’s website is located at thescarletgoodbye.com. I recommend pulling it up to listen to She’s a Fire!
