Ambushers

Cincinnati, 1973

During the early 1970s, Counterpart studio had a lot of session players and woodshedders that released one-off 45s, probably intended to see if they could get interest in specific performers and songs. The Ambushers was the name used on record for a studio creation by Fred Leonard and George Thompson. The songs were "I Need Love!" and "There's Gotta Be A Time". The "I Need Love!" song has acquired a reputation as being a 'garage band' song which is due to the relative lo-fi production and agressive vocal. The recording was probably a one take demo with little or no overdubs. The label used was Snuff records, probably a name 'owned' by George Thompson.

There is some story behind the record, revealed in the article from February, 1975. Leonard and Thompson were friends and bus drivers for the Queen City Metro transit line. The article is about Ken Pettiford's 45 on Countepart, but references an earlier 45 by the pair, which is the Ambushers. From the story the record would have been released in 1973. We haven't figured in their other songs were released.

Fred Leonard was active in local music, at least off and on. He made a couple albums in the 2000s and had an ad in the Cincinnati paper, and a website and Spotify channel. He passed away in 2012.

Discography
I Need Love! / There's Gotta Be A Time (Snuff 75)