Paul Spring

Bombadil Records

Paul Spring is a singer‑songwriter from St. Cloud, Minnesota, now based in Queens, New York. His forthcoming album Barnstorm—arriving August 21, 2026 on Bombadil Records—was recorded in County Galway with four young Irish musicians he met while touring the country in 2025. Inspired by their chemistry, Spring returned months later to track twelve songs live at Inchiquinn, the family home of Uilleann piper Tadhg Ó Raghallaigh. The ensemble also features drummer Ben Duffy, bassist Sam Wright, and bouzouki player Macdara Ó Faoláin.

Together they developed a shared musical language rooted in folk and baroque traditions. The arrangements move fluidly between reimagined Irish tunes and interpolations of Bach, with Spring and Ó Faoláin often playing caprices, gavottes, or reels in unison while Duffy and Wright anchor the rhythm. The songs float above this framework—lyrically eccentric and wide‑ranging, from Midwestern celebrations to Lil Wayne‑inspired revelry to local New York politics. The album reflects the perspective of an artist shaped equally by Minnesota, Ireland, and New York.

A former member of New York’s Holy Hive, Spring has self‑released fourteen solo albums since 2012. His recent work spans a wide stylistic arc: the “meshing 90s pop and Bach” (MPR) of Always Almost Home (2023), the “hidden pop gem” (Irish Times) Thunderhead (2022), and the minimalist folk‑electronic experiments of River Flows Two Ways (2024), praised by Aquarium Drunkard as “a singular fresh offering.” Later in 2024 he released Kind of Heaven, recorded live over two days with producer‑drummer Jon Nellen and featuring Nick Hakim on piano. In 2025 he issued Vita Brevis, an album of original songs written entirely in Classical Latin, inspired by Latin hymns and the 1960s work of David Axelrod and the Beach Boys. It was recorded in Altadena, California with Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith and co‑producer Rob Shelton.

Raised in a family of ten children by literature‑teacher parents, Spring has balanced his musical life with an array of odd jobs—from snowplow driver to political campaign manager. His touring history includes extensive DIY runs across the U.S. and Ireland as well as two long‑distance river canoe tours: 1,200 miles down the Mississippi in 2015 and 150 miles down the Hudson in 2024. A devoted instrumental guitarist, he released J.S. Bach 12‑String Transcriptions in 2021 and performed weekly Bach sets at Manhattan’s Burp Castle from 2022 to 2024.

Spring’s work as a collaborator is equally wide‑ranging. He has sung live with Post Malone on Saturday Night Live and with Fleet Foxes for a streaming performance. As a session guitarist and co‑writer, he appears on Black Thought and El Michels Affair’s Glorious Game, and his playing has been sampled by Kenny Beats, Vic Mensa, Sofia Valdez, and Kirby. In 2022 he became, somewhat unexpectedly, a Grammy‑winning instrumentalist after recording a flute solo for Lecrae’s “Good Lord,” which appeared on the rapper’s award‑winning album Church Clothes 4.