On his first studio album, “Country Libations,” Doug Wamble almost dares you to categorize his sound. But just one listen says you can’t.

The album showcases a diverse sound that is jazz, blues, country and gospel all rolled into one. Wamble’s influences seem to be diametrically opposed, but somehow complement each other.

On one hand, Wamble is a guitarist with a firm understanding of jazz, but he’s also a vocalist with roots deep in the gospel and blues traditions.

“My wife is always trying to come up with a name for my genre of music,” says Wamble, who is married to opera singer Janna Baty. “It’s funny to hear her trying to describe it to her friends.”

When asked to pick a specific genre into which he would place himself, Wamble chooses jazz — but with many influences.

“I sort of describe my sound as Robert Johnson meets Ornette Coleman, and they go to a Memphis church together,” he says.

Wamble grew up in Memphis and studied the clarinet as a kid. He says he didn’t pick up a guitar until just before college and never planned on a career in music.

“I was going to be a [literature] major,” he says. “But I heard a Benny Goodman record with Charlie Christian, and I just loved the sound of it.”

Wamble discovered what he really wanted to do with his life during his freshman year at Memphis State. During that year, he went to a concert that changed his life.

“My mom took me to see Harry Connick’s band, and he had Russell Malone with him,” Wamble says. “I said, ‘This is what I want to do. I’ve got to learn to play jazz guitar.'”

After transferring to the University of Northern Florida and graduating in 1995, Wamble moved to Chicago and did graduate work in jazz at Northwestern University. In 1997, he moved to New York, where he had made a few contacts.

“I had met Wynton Marsalis a couple of times, and we kept in touch,” Wamble says. “He was always encouraging me.”

Marsalis kept recommending Wamble to other musicians and tossed him composing commissions for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.

Wamble has appeared on a few major albums, including Marsalis’s “Big Train” and Cassandra Wilson’s “Traveling Miles.”

At the same time, Wamble also had met Wynton’s brother, Branford. When Branford told Wamble he was starting his own record label, he jumped at the opportunity.

Who: Doug Wamble

Where: M-Shop

When: 8 p.m., Saturday

Cost: $7 students, $9 public