Paul Carrol Binkley (original music director for Spirit and Smoke and producer/arranger for the original cast recording of Smoke) has been playing the guitar and composing his own music since he was nine years old. He trained at Berklee College of Music in Boston (Jim Hall Jazz Award), Austin Peay State University, and Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt. His music has been heard everywhere from the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, to the Lincoln Center in New York; from CMT to NPR; from Holland to Singapore. He has worked locally with Tennessee Repertory Theatre, Nashville Children’s Theatre, Nashville Shakespeare Festival and Community Spirit as Sound Designer, Music Director, and Composer. Other credits include Coterie Theatre (Missouri), Music from the Hearts of Space and All Things Considered(NPR). Paul has served as acoustic guitar specialist for a diverse group of artists including country music super-group Alabama. His solo recordings include Silent Serenade, Closer to Home, Passages for Acoustic Guitar, Flying Colors, and Do You Hear What I Hear? (www.pcbmusic.com) Current projects include serving as the Fred Coe Artist in-Residence at Vanderbilt’s Theatre Department, copyright infringement consulting, performing locally, most recently, with Nashville Symphony and Nashville Opera and in his original children’s musical, Jack’s Tale: A Mystic Mountain Musical, (co-authored with Scot Copeland of Nashville Children’s Theatre) in its national premiere at The Kennedy Center, Washington, D. C. before returning to Nashville Children’s Theatre. Paul lives in Adams, Tennessee.
“Binkley’s original music is almost subliminal, a nostalgic weave of old lace curtains, the faint scent of wood smoke…and remembered innocence.” -The Tennessean