Paul Spring at the Raccoon Motel -- August 20.
Tuesday, August 20, 6 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
Lauded by Rollins Stong as an artist whose “high guileless voice comes in swirls and artful smears,” New York-based folk singer/songwriter Paul Spring headlines an August 20 concert at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the gifted musician also praised by the Irish Times for his “richly realized songs with deft lyrics and considered sensibility.”
Spring brings together classical guitar, baroque chorales, 808s, and Irish traditional melodies into a sound all his own, and he has released three albums in the past three years. Between 2023’s Always Almost Home “meshing 90s pop and Bach” (according to MPR) and the “hidden pop gem” (The Irish Times) of 2022ʼs Thunderhead, Spring experimented with minimal electronic production and folk. Aquarium Drunkard called his latest album, 2024’s River Flows Two Ways, “a singular fresh offering as well as a catalogue introduction of sorts.”
Raised in Saint Cloud, Minnesota, and based in New York City since 2018, Spring has completed two successful River Canoe tours. In 2015, he spent 48 days paddling 1,200 miles down the Mississippi River in support of his release Towards a Center. Earlier this year, he canoed 150 miles down the Hudson in support of River Flows Two Ways. Spring is also a passionate classical guitarist, having released an album of Bach arrangements for 12 string guitar, and since 2022, he has played a weekly gig in Manhattan playing classical compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.
In addition to his solo work, Spring was lead singer and songwriter of the band Holy Hive until their dissolution. In 2023, he appeared as a session guitarist and co-writer on the hip-hop artists Black Thought's and El Michels Affair’s Glorious Game, and his guitar playing has been sampled on releases by Kenny Beats, Vic Mensa, TOBi, Lecrae, Kirby, and Thundercat. Among the many raves Spring has received over the past five years, NPR stated, “Paul Spring's floaty falsetto vocal, reminiscent of some long-lost Beach Boy, produces a sound that's like a salve."
Paul Spring plays his headlining engagement in Davenport on August 20 with additional sets by Munk Rivers and Dirty Blonde, admission to the 6 p.m. concert is $15.88, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
