The Soul of the Mountains: How the Village Guitarist has Built a 42-Year Musical Legacy

CEDAR CREST – Every long-standing family business has a heartbeat, a rhythm that carries it through decades of changing times. For The Village Guitarist, nestled in the scenic East Mountains of New Mexico, that rhythm started with the gentle strumming of a Spanish guitar in Santa Fe and Rainsville.

Long before it became a premier destination for musicians across Central New Mexico, the store was just a dream in the mind of Ambrose Rivera. As a child growing up in the Mora Valley, Ambrose’s world was steeped in traditional Spanish music. He watched his father play, absorbing the melodies that served as the community’s connective tissue.

By 1974, that heritage pulled Ambrose to Albuquerque, where he opened a tiny storefront called “Mr. Music,” offering instruments, repairs, and lessons. But the mountain air beckoned. In 1979, Ambrose moved his family to the pine-scented landscape of Cedar Crest, officially establishing roots in the East Mountains and renaming the business The Village Guitarist in 1983.

A Growing Family Lineage

As the years rolled on, the shop evolved from a solo venture into a collaborative family tapestry. “When I was about 10 or 11, my dad made me come down every single Saturday,” Eric Rivera recalls with a laugh. “The old location was tiny—literally no bigger than the small space we’re standing in right now. I had to sit in a chair in the corner and just listen while he gave lessons. Then I’d polish the guitars, organize strings, and count the change in the till. I hated it as a kid.”

But the continuous immersion worked. Ambrose taught Eric the intricate scales of jazz and classical music, and soon Eric was hooked on the raw, electric energy of blues and rock. In 1997, at 20 years old, Eric officially joined the business as an instructor.

“I remember my first few students. I was nervous, but I could feel myself mimicking what I would hear my dad say,” Eric says. “It wasn’t just a teacher-student relationship my dad created; it was a friendship. They came to be part of an activity.”

In those early days, the father-and-son team worked alongside Adam Lightle, a dedicated instructor who taught with the Riveras for roughly 15 years across both locations before eventually stepping away to balance his family life and a career with Southwest Airlines.

The family circle expanded further in 2005 when the shop moved to its current home in the Turquoise Trail Shopping Center, just three miles north of the Interstate 40 exit. Krista Rivera joined the business, introducing a vibrant piano lesson program that beautifully harmonized with the store’s guitar-heavy roots.

An Expert Instructional Roster

Through every major shift—including the grueling months of the pandemic—the East Mountain community has anchored them. When COVID-19 halted in-person gatherings, the Riveras adapted to protect their roster of nearly 200 students.

“We couldn’t teach in person, so our students were asking, ‘We want to keep supporting you guys, how can we make it work?'” Eric explains. They quickly discovered that live, real-time Zoom video lessons suffered from audio lag and dropped connections. “You can’t play together live online; the latency makes it impossible.”

Instead, they pioneered an asynchronous video-exchange model using messaging apps. Instructors recorded a custom 10-to-15-minute lesson video detailing specific mechanics, and students sent videos of their progress back. “It actually worked out better,” Krista notes. “The students suddenly had a permanent video reference they could pause and refer back to all week long.”

Today, that dedication to individual pacing spans generations, supported by five exceptional instructors carrying on the studio’s foundational mission. Among them is Michael Vrooman, a phenomenal multi-instrumentalist who teaches piano, drums, guitar, bass, and ukulele. Michael’s ties to the store run incredibly deep—he grew up taking lessons from both Ambrose and Eric since he was seven years old.

The faculty also boasts high-caliber regional talent like Martin Ly, a deeply respected member of Guitar New Mexico who serves as an instructor and director for the prestigious Guitar All State program.

This diverse team allows the store to serve students of all ages and backgrounds. Michael, for instance, utilizes adaptive teaching methods to keep an 86-year-old grandmother engaged with her piano keys via custom video assignments when she cannot physically make it through the front door with her walker. Eric fondly remembers another gentleman, Harvey, who walked in on his 80th birthday having never played a note in his life.

“He took lessons from me for a few years and even played a Johnny Cash song at one of our recitals,” Eric says. “He sat down in front of 75 people, and his whole family came to watch. It was beautiful.”

The two developed a bond so deep Harvey’s family requested Eric play “On the Road Again,” at his funeral service.

Boutique Powerhouse & Savvy Retail

The retail and repair branch of the shop has earned massive acclaim, recently voted “Best Store For Musicians” by Albuquerque The Magazine and recognized globally as a Top 300 Shop on Reverb.com.

Inside, the shop features specialized acoustic and electric showrooms packed with world-class inventory from brands like Martin, Paul Reed Smith (PRS), Suhr, Ibanez, and Furch, alongside premium Orange and Strymon amplifiers.

“We become known as a boutique shop,” Eric says, pointing out a dark-burst, Nashville-built Nova guitar hanging on the wall. “People come up from Albuquerque because we carry high-end instruments they can’t get their hands on anywhere else. But we also carry reliable $200 and $300 beginner instruments. We spend years vetting our entry-level gear because we won’t sell an instrument we don’t trust. If a kid has constant mechanical problems with a budget guitar, it breaks their motivation and betrays their trust in us.”

A major catalyst behind the store’s recent retail evolution is Ted Spacagna, who joined the team as an instructor and Sales Manager in 2022. Ted has had a massive impact on the growth of the business, bringing a rare talent for guiding hesitant customers. When people are unsure of their direction or budget, Ted excels at listening to their goals and matching them with the exact right instrument, so they leave happy without feeling oversold.

That specialized knowledge extends heavily to the workbench. Backed by Eric’s former childhood Little League teammate—luthier Fox Fletcher of Mallory Guitars, who trained at the prestigious Collings factory—The Village Guitarist handles everything from complex fretwork and electronics to precision setups.

It’s an ecosystem that digital tools simply cannot replicate. “When YouTube grew, and now with AI creating music, people wondered if it would hurt us,” Eric notes. “It’s actually increased our business. You can only learn so much from a video before you get stuck wondering why your hand won’t move right. YouTube is one-sided. In person, we see when a student is losing motivation, and we pivot to find the exact song that hooks them again.”

The Next Arrangement

Looking toward the next decade, the Riveras dream of expanding their physical layout. If the fitness center next door ever relocates, they hope to absorb the square footage to construct a dedicated, acoustically optimized community performance and recital space—a resource sorely lacking in the area.

It’s a natural extension of their shared passion for mentoring local youth, whether through Krista’s A Acapella quartet (which includes their daughter, Aria) or Eric’s work coaching local youth softball and T-ball teams.

“I have two main passions: music and ball,” Eric says, reflecting on a tough sports season spent teaching teamwork to kids and fundamentals to kids who were struggling with direction and guidance from the previous season. “I sat down with the girls halfway through a hard season and asked them why they kept coming back to practice on hot summer mornings. They told me, ‘I like the sport, and I like being here with my friends.’ That’s all I needed to hear. It’s the exact same thing as the guitar shop. It’s about building confidence and inspiring people.”

Celebrating over 42 years of continuous mountain service, the mission remains identical to the one Ambrose envisioned in 1974: quality lessons generate sales, and sales generate trusted repairs. For the Rivera family and their talented staff, passing down a scale or repairing a bridge isn’t just local commerce. It’s a lifelong act of cultural stewardship.

The Village Guitarist

• Location: Turquoise Trail Shopping Center, Cedar Crest, NM
• Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM | Saturday: 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM (Closed Sunday & Monday)
• Services: Private instruction (Guitar, Bass, Piano, Ukulele, Percussion, Vocals), Retail, and Professional Instrument Repair.
• 12220 highway 14N, Cedar Crest, NM 87008
• Call 5052812608