Jay Manley is a guitarist, producer and film composer from North Carolina. By the age of two, he was playing guitar. Childhood included playing Beatles songs on a dulcimer, making drums out of cans and improvising on piano.

He received a music degree from University of North Carolina Wilmington studying classical, jazz guitar and composition. Extensive study of classical theory did not derail the desire to create pop music but nourished experimentation stretching its boundaries. Jay's electric guitar style pulls from a broad palate of musical flavors: stretching from pop to indie rock, country, blues, Indian classical and jazz.

Cultivating the music and career of Velvet, the rock band formed with wife and bassist Jane Francis, has been the main focus for more than a decade. The 60's British blues and new wave inspired group recorded a critically acclaimed release with producer Mitch Easter and started their own indie label with international distribution.

For three years, Jay studied the Hindustani or North Indian classical musical tradition under vocalist Madhu Mita Sen Saha and sarodist John Heitzenrater of the Maihar Gharana. The influence of this culture led to Wes Lambe designing a semi-hollow body electric guitar with sympathetic harp and drone strings much like the sitar for Jay. The goal was to create a vehicle for the fusion of Manley's ideas and styles. Director Nic Beery has produced a short documentary “Melting Of The Globe” about the making of the instrument: the Saraswati Guitar.

With more than a dozen film scores to his credit, Jay Manley is becoming a prolific, creative force in North Carolina for short and feature film and documentary music. His works range from magical orchestral textures to intimate solo acoustic. He has produced works for Figure Eight Films,The Arc of NC, Clay Aiken, Partnership For Children, AASHTO and recorded national releases in his project studio: Shalini, "Magnetic North", The Good Graces, "Sunset Over Saxapahaw" and “Drawn To You”, Baron Von Rumblebuss, “Agreeably Loud”.