Mississippi & Scott counties: A great place to keep the music going

Jeff Wamble was raised in St. Louis and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1994 to follow his music career. In 1996, he started playing steel guitar for Canadian country music singer Paul Brandt, touring extensively in Canada and even as far as Switzerland.

Today, Wamble makes his home in Bertrand, Missouri, with his parents, wife and two grown children, but he still travels to Nashville and Canada to play with Brandt.

Jeff Wamble plays the steel guitar.Laura Simon

"He treats me very well. Everybody just loves him, and I enjoy it, so I'm going to do it as long as I can," Wamble says. "As long as I've got my health and everything else stays on course, then I'm good to go."

Wamble learned to play guitar when he was a kid, and he took on the steel guitar about 25 years ago. When he's not doing tours or one-off shows with Brandt, Wamble can be found performing around Southeast Missouri or recording at Blue Creek Production in Patton, Missouri.

"If I get called, it's usually for the steel guitar," he says, explaining that there aren't many steel guitar players in the area.

Jeff Wamble plays the steel guitar.Laura Simon

"It's my passion," he adds. "Everybody's got something in life that they would do for free. I love this instrument, I have a passion for it, and it seems to be the one thing in life that I can do halfway right."

As the holidays approach and the concert season slows down a bit, Wamble says he's looking forward to "taking it easy" at home with his family before things pick up again in February.