Matt Arthur, front-man of Northfield-area band, Matt Arthur & the Bratlanders, is a pure, unfiltered creative force.

He has no formal musical training, but, watching the singer-songwriter play, you get the sneaking suspicion that that’s a good thing. 

Arthur confirms this hunch. 

“Anything I’ve ever been any good at, I taught myself,” he said over a mug of hot cider before taking the stage at the Contented Cow recently. 

Once onstage, the music pours out of Arthur in bluesy, honest, country-rock acoustic waves as he sings and strums.  His writing process is equally organic. 

“I don’t write anything down. Often I’ll sit with a tape recorder and piece something together," he says.

“Matt’ll crank out a song, and if it’s not that great of a song, he’ll write another one,” said Doug Bratland, the band’s bass player.

Bratland and Arthur met in 1989, and spent the next seven years playing together in Minneapolis-based alt-country grunge band, Prest Asbestus.

Arthur's first impression made just that—an impression—on Bratland.

“It was the craziest thing I, literally, had ever seen in my life – this scrawny blind man (Arthur) up there hollering with a guitar player that was out of tune and a drummer who was just crazy, just banging all over the place. I thought, ‘I want to be a part of that.’”

Although Bratland and Arthur have been playing together on and off for more than 20 years, Matt Arthur and the Bratlanders wasn’t formed until late 2003. 

After performing at a Johnny Cash tribute show in Minneapolis, Arthur teamed up with Bratland, Bratland’s twin brother, Don, who plays electric guitar, and their sister, Beverly, on drums (since replaced by Joel Beithon), to stage a similar event in Northfield. The band played 50 Johnny Cash covers at the Contented Cow and have been together ever since.

“The band was really a backing band for Matt when we started out,” said Bratland.  “It’s really changed a lot in the last year. We sort of made up our mind to be a band.  We’ve been more intentional about it.”

The band has experienced a stylistic evolution as well. Once a distinctly country-folk cover band, they now have a strong rock emphasis as well, and have begun to feature Arthur’s original songs more heavily.

However, Arthur’s rich, almost warbling voice and unapologetic spontaneous spirit of the band has remained constant.

“We’ve never been very good at practicing,” admits Arthur.  “I can never play anything the same way twice. I just stand up and do my thing.”

“It keeps us on our toes,” said Bratland, elaborating. “Matt likes to just throw stuff at us once in a while and see how we react to it. He also doesn’t tell us what to expect. Some people might say ‘Go to a G here,’ but Matt’s just like, ‘Well, follow along! Figure it out! You’re on your own boys!’”

That spur-of-the-moment approach to music and performance is at the heart of the band’s identity. 

“I’m not going to get all uptight,” said Arthur.  “You see some of these bands, you can tell they ain’t having no fun. I can tell just by listening to them”

“If the band’s not having fun, I don’t think anybody’s having fun,” said Bratland.

Fortunately, for Northfield’s music-lovers, the band’s having a rollicking good time.

Matt Arthur & the Bratlanders 2010 album, How Time Passes, can be purchased at the band’s website, mattarthur.net, or at any of their live shows.  The band performs 8 p.m. Thursday at the Contented Cow.