Eric "Roscoe" Ambel (born August 20, 1957) is an American guitarist and record producer.
He has worked with a wide range of artists including Nils Lofgren, Steve Earle, the Yayhoos, Del Lords, The Bottle Rockets, Joan Jett, Mojo Nixon, Blood Oranges, Blue Mountain, Freedy Johnston and Mary Lee's Corvette.
Early life and education Eric "Roscoe" Ambel was born August 20, 1957, in Kankakee, Illinois, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois. He began playing music in school, taking up piano and trumpet, and attended the University of Wyoming, where he played trumpet in the marching band.
Career Early bands and Joan Jett Ambel has credited a 1976 Ramones and Dictators concert in Chicago, which he attended on tickets won from the radio station WXRT, with drawing him toward punk rock. He formed a band called the Dirty Dogs in Laramie, Wyoming, which relocated to Los Angeles and was renamed the Accelerators. After the group disbanded, he played with Rik L Rik and with Top Jimmy.
In 1979, Ambel joined Joan Jett's backing band, the Blackhearts, as lead guitarist, and played on the album I Love Rock 'n' Roll before leaving in 1981. He then moved to New York City and became a founding member of the Del-Lords, alongside former Dictators guitarist Scott Kempner and drummer Frank Funaro. The band released four studio albums and a live album between 1984 and 1990.
Production work and Lakeside Lounge Ambel began producing in the 1980s, recording singles for the Brooklyn truck-driving label Diesel Only Records during his time with the Del-Lords. He has cited his production of Nils Lofgren's Crooked Line (Rykodisc) as an early breakthrough. His production credits since have included albums for the Bottle Rockets, Blue Mountain, the Backsliders, Blood Oranges and Sarah Borges, among others.
The Yayhoos, a group Ambel formed with former Georgia Satellites frontman Dan Baird, bassist Keith Christopher and drummer Terry Anderson, grew out of a 1993 songwriting gathering; the group wrote and recorded its debut album in 1996, though Bloodshot Records did not release Fear Not the Obvious until 2001. In April 1996, Ambel and disc jockey James Marshall opened the East Village bar the Lakeside Lounge, which Ambel booked and co-owned until its closure in April 2012.
In 1999, Ambel and engineer Tim Hatfield established Cowboy Technical Services, a recording studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn that later relocated to Greenpoint. The studio has hosted artists including Ryan Adams, Steve Wynn, Marshall Crenshaw, Los Lobos and Laura Cantrell.
Ambel founded Lakeside Lounge Records to release his own music. Its first release was the 2004 compilation Knucklehead, which collected previously unreleased tracks recorded over the preceding decade with collaborators including the Del-Lords, the Bottle Rockets, the Yayhoos and Steve Earle.
Steve Earle and later work In 2000, Ambel became lead guitarist in Steve Earle's backing band, the Dukes, recording and touring with Earle through 2005. He appeared on Earle's Jerusalem, the documentary Just an American Boy and the Grammy Award-winning The Revolution Starts... Now.
The Yayhoos released a second album, Put the Hammer Down, on Lakeside Lounge Records in 2006. In 2013, Ambel reunited with the Del-Lords for the album Elvis Club. In 2016, he released Lakeside, his first solo studio album in over a decade, named for the bar he had co-owned. He continues to work as a producer and performer at Cowboy Technical Services in Brooklyn.
Discography
Selected Production & Session Credits