Doug Wamble

Few guitarists have moved between a Memphis childhood, a Northwestern master's degree and the documentary scores of Ken Burns quite like Doug Wamble. Born Samuel Douglas Wamble in 1972, the Tennessee-raised musician came to the guitar through the records of Charlie Christian, and his playing and singing draw on the American jazz tradition.

His path ran through the classroom before the bandstand. A planned career in audio engineering at Memphis State University gave way after he heard Harry Connick Jr. and Russell Malone in concert, and he transferred to the University of North Florida, where he met pianist Roy Dunlap, bassist Jeff Hanley and drummer Peter Miles. He later earned a master's at Northwestern. In 1997 he settled in New York and met Wynton Marsalis; he then played guitar on Big Train (1999) and on Cassandra Wilson's Traveling Miles (1999), signed with Marsalis Music, and released his debut, Country Libations, in 2003. His later credits include the soundtrack for Ken Burns's The War, music for The 10th Inning and Prohibition, the original score for The Central Park Five, and production of Morgan James's Hunter (Epic, 2014).