Paul Spring / Secret Joy

new album Dumb and Free, out November 11, 2025, draws on characters he met while canvassing and socializing in Stearns County, Minnesota. Written from the perspectives of people with often opposing political views, the songs evolved from judgment into empathy. Spring developed the material during an eight-month residency at Sunny’s Bar in Red Hook, then recorded it with Nick Hakim, Jon Nellen (Big Thief, Elucid), Adam Brisbin (Cassandra Jenkins, Buck Meek), and Kevin Copeland (Allegra Krieger, Hannah Frances).

Following 2023’s Always Almost Home (“meshing 90s pop and Bach” —MPR) and Thunderhead (“a hidden pop gem” —Irish Times), Spring released River Flows Two Ways (2024), Kind of Heaven, and Vita Brevis (2025), the latter sung entirely in Classical Latin and recorded with Rob Shelton (Meernaa) in Altadena, CA.

Raised in Saint Cloud, MN, and now based in NYC, Spring has toured extensively in the U.S. and Ireland and undertaken two river canoe tours—down the Mississippi (2015) and Hudson (2024). A dedicated guitarist, he released J.S. Bach 12 String Transcriptions and performed Bach weekly at Manhattan’s Burp Castle.

Formerly the frontman of Holy Hive, he’s also sung live with Post Malone and Fleet Foxes, contributed to Black Thought & El Michels Affair’s Glorious Game, and earned a Grammy in 2022 for a flute solo on Lecrae’s Good Lord.

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