Ventura Skies is an unexpected return from a songwriter who just a few years ago thought he might never make another album again. But a romantic breakup and the death of his father to cancer coaxed music out of Noah Lamberth as he dealt with the loss & hurt. “The best way to deal with the pain is to verbalize it. But for me that comes out in song. It’s kind of like therapy. The songs started pouring out of me.”
The music was a natural extension from his California Country-styled band, Hank Floyd. That was the group that Lamberth had founded in the early-2000s. Though the act opened up for such artists like Willie Nelson, Brad Paisley, and Tim McGraw, they missed the commercial brass ring. (One major label in Nashville said they were too ahead of their time and wouldn’t know how to market them.)
Hank Floyd was a proving ground and a working lab to write songs and sing on the road. But when it ended, Lamberth thought that might be it for music. Working on several documentaries and traveling the country shooting TV shows, Lamberth seemed content to pursue a new calling via a new medium. But as he wrote songs on the road or from his home in Los Angeles, he began to share them with his music friends. One particular colleague, musician and producer Andy Davis, was excited about the new inspiration and convinced Lamberth to record an album. The sound had evolved some and Noah and Andy jokingly called the style a fusion of Mexican/surf/country. But these new songs were no joke, and they captured the yearning desire of an artist inspired with a second chance.
