Spring City resident Joe Puleo — an esteemed track-and-field coach, author, and lyricist — has joined forces with singer and producer Ken Stringfellow, who worked with The Posies and R.E.M., on a five-song EP titled Ten Years To Home: Ken Stringfellow Imagines Puleo, writes Eugene Zenyatta for Philadelphia Weekly.

Puleo, who founded the Philadelphia Running Co., began collaborating with Stringfellow, also a multi-instrumentalist, during quarantine. The pair sent music digitally back and forth as they created the five songs that would become the EP.

The Posies drummer Frankie Siragusa also contributed to the album and ended up sending his contribution from his L.A. studio.

Puleo drew inspiration for the album from Gabriele Gruenwald, a track champion who fought yet ultimately succumbed to cancer.

“Our first and initially the only song I planned to work together with Ken on was the song I wrote in honor of Gabriele Gruenwald, ‘Not Today,’” said Puleo.

The collaboration grew from there and the resulting album will be released June 18 “on the popular platforms, Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud, etc.,” he said.

Read more about Spring City‘s Joe Puleo in Philadelphia Weekly.