Paul Carson grew up in Memphis, TN, and moved around until settling in Springfield, MO, where he now resides. An early interest in music led him to study trumpet and trombone in school, but his moment of clarity came at his first Petra concert in 1982, where he said "the switch was turned on".  At that moment he said he knew precisely that this was his purpose in life. After picking up the guitar, he began immediately to play in bands and on his worship team at church. He also explored writing, adding to his church's worship repertoire, and playing in other various musical projects. 

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His first big opportunity came when he was recruited by Mike Schmitz (writer for Greg X. Volz's solo albums) and Jonathan David Brown (Producer of Volz-era Petra albums) to work on a new original project, as well as doing studio work for some of Brown's other projects. Soon afterwards, however, he felt that God was leading him to put music on hold, and focus on raising his young children. 

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As fate would have it, in 2013, Paul and his daughter, Casandra, formed a band to perform songs they had been writing together. They called the band Paralandra (based on the book by C.S. Lewis) and began recording music and touring the country. They quickly gained momentum and began playing on the national level, and have been on the rise since the release of their 2021 album, Street Magic, produced by multi-platinum producer Elvis Baskette. 

 

Paul joined Classic Petra Resurrection as the lead guitarist in the spring of 2022 after Kirk Henderson decided to shift his ministry toward writing and counseling full time. Paul has been close with the Volz family for 20 years and played live on stage with Greg X Volz in 2013 for a special concert featuring music from Greg's solo albums.