Paul Deemer

Born and raised in El Paso, TX, Paul went on to earn his B.M. in Trombone Performance at the University of Arizona and M.M. from the Frost School of Music. Since moving to Austin in 2010, he’s become a first-call musician playing trombone, trumpet, flugelhorn, baritone, percussion, and keyboard. In 2015, Paul was hired onto the faculty at Texas State University as professor and lecturer of Jazz Trombone, and in 2016 was hired for the same position at the esteemed University of Texas at Austin.

With over 25 years of playing experience, Paul finds himself equally at home playing funk, latin, soul, blues, classical, and pop and has toured internationally with The Polyphonic Spree, and nationally with Calexico, Hard Proof, Progger, and Brownout. His section has joined Gary Clark Jr., Jon Batiste, Maggie Rose, Aaron Frazer, Adrian Quesada’s Jaguar Sounds, and Thee Sacred Souls at the esteemed Austin City Limits Festival.

Paul has performed at some of the most renowned venues including:

Radio City Music Hall for the David Bowie Tribute show in NYC,
The HEB Arena at Cedar Park for the Kill Tony Podcast’s arena tour debut,
The Moody Amphitheater’s first concert featuring The Who,
The legendary Bestival on the Isle of Wight for 50,000 people.
ACL live tapings:

the Polyphonic Spree remembering Daniel Johnston
10 yr anniversary Kill Tony show
Jaguar Sounds live taping
Japanese Breakfast live taping
Spoon Live taping


Most recently, Paul completed a year playing horns with the live band on Kill Tony, the reigning #1 live comedy podcast in the world. Some other notable highlights include performances with Frankie Valli, The Walkmen, Kill Tony’s first Arena Show at the HEB center, and taping with the Surfaces for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Having already been an official artist for SXSW Music Festival in 2020, Paul returned in 2024 to showcase his new acoustic jazz-pop ensemble.

Paul has recorded on numerous albums including albums from Shiny Ribs, Trail of the Dead, Dave Grusin, Molly Burch, The Polyphonic Spree, and Adrian Quesada of the Black Pumas.