In 2012, Dan Murphy stepped away from music after 30 years of recording and touring with Soul Asylum and the Golden Smog, not knowing if he’d ever write or record a song again. A chance meeting with singer/songwriter Jeff Arundel inspired Murphy and led the duo, whose careers spanned the same time frame but had essentially no other resemblance, to start writing and recording. The result is their debut album, Hope’s Eternal.

The Scarlet Goodbye is a musical adventure, spawned out of the chance meeting of two Minnesota Music veterans who come from different sides of the scene. Daniel Murphy and Jeff Arundel may seem like an unlikely pair, but they weave their pasts together into an impressive mix that recalls Big Star and the Hollies… musical, melodic, loud, soft… and above all, emotive.

With their first collaboration, “Paris,” they realized that they were onto something, as Murphy shoved Arundel into a swagger, and Arundel tip-toed Murphy onto revealing some vulnerabilities. Meeting in an attic studio during the pandemic, Murphy and Arundel fashioned a collection of songs that producer John Fields, who was brought in to complete the record, calls “both timeless and unique, part Rolling Stones and part Townes Van Zandt”.

Throughout 2022, the Scarlet Goodbye released three singles and a video to critical acclaim and performed on stages large and small, all leading up to the release of Hope’s Eternal via Nashville’s The Label Group. “This started at a house party in St. Paul.” says Dan Murphy, who had waved goodbye to music years ago. “I discovered Jeff’s inviting studio, which loomed as a sharp contrast to my distant memories of studios past.”

A longtime art and antique collector, Murphy is the owner of Grapefruit Moon Gallery, which features the best in original pin-up, glamour, advertising, and cover art from the Grand Age of American Illustration, and also home to the Bunny Yeager Archive.