MOUNT ULLA, NC – They say that hindsight is 20-20. Experience teaches us a bit later in life that, at least in our twenty-something years, it is at best; cloudy. For country music artist and true-blue Ford and Mustang fan Sydney Lett, her early days were clearly defined by two things. Ford and her passion for country music.
“Ford and music have been the one constant in my life throughout my childhood into my adult years,” says Lett. “I can relate every memory growing up to a vehicle with a Blue Oval. My family had a whole stable of Fords that I spent my childhood riding around in. My grandpa, rest his soul who we lost in 2022, was so serious about his love for Ford that he refused to let anyone park a Chevy in his driveway. Even if it was a rental!”
“My mama had a newer Ford Escort when I was young,” Letts says. “We ended up driving it all the way from Iowa to New Jersey to see family, where I put my feet in the ocean for the first time. During my childhood, my grandpa had a ’77 Thunderbird with a bright blue interior, plus a ’94 Ranger and an old van that became my pretend tour bus when I had first discovered my music dream as a kid.
“[I can still see] my grandma, who used to pick me up from school in her bright-red ’98 Mustang GT Convertible, and I remember her squealing the tires pulling out of my elementary school and feeling like the coolest kid there.”
Like many however, Lett’s “Wilder Dreams” would have to wait a little longer through her high school years while driving her “little blue Ford Escape” while road-tripping it to“play gigs as a teenager with my mom.”
Enter “Audrey,” which is the name that Syd gave her C-code, 289-powered 1966 Mustang coupe. It wears a custom Wimbledon White hue with a bold silver-smoke stripe up and over, and it sports Torque Thrust D wheels and sticky rubber all around, showing that this country girl isn’t afraid to put her Mustang through its paces.
“I haven't really opened her up lately" concedes Lett, speaking as only a true gearhead would, "but there are some long backroads that I have had my eyes on" she notes with a raised brow and accompanying grin.
“The first car I bought on my own was my 1966 Mustang coupe that I named Audrey,” she explains. “She has truly given me wings in more ways than one.”
“Picked up my car to nowhere and I left just in time,
There was something I was missing, and I had to make it mine,
They say you can’t tame a Mustang and I was as wild as they come,
I ain’t sittin’ down, I ain’t growin’ up,
I was born to run!”
-- Wilder Dreams, Sydney Lett
“Our Ford vehicles feel like members of the family.” She says. “Ford not only gives you a top-of-the-line beautiful vehicle in any generation, but it also gives you a blank canvas along with that to write your own stories and make your own memories. And in my opinion, that’s what makes it so special."
In true-blue (oval) all-American girl fashion, she coyly mentions that her dream of a Signature Red Platinum Ford F250 Dually would sure look pretty pulling a pony trailer in support of her recent and similar passion, which is Lett’s 501C recently opened non-profit horse rescue known as Rustic Sage Farms in Rowan County, NC. Sydney’s passions are reflected in her songwriting: Her ’66 Ford Mustang Audrey, horses and navigating life in her Twenties.
Never far from her heart is a new Mustang GTD however! “I think I’d be dangerous in one of those,” she adds with a knowing wink. She quoted Pablo Picasso, who had said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.”
“My love for country music started as far back as I can remember, twirling around my childhood home in Des Moines, Iowa,” says Lett, who started singing and playing guitar at age 10 to the iconic songs of Dolly Parton. “I knew the stage was the place for me. I’ve had so many incredible opportunities from writing songs with some of my favorite artists in Nashville, playing at NASCAR tracks, sharing a stage with Blake Shelton; I’ve truly been living my dream!”
“My new single, Simple Little Life, just dropped (available on streaming sites now), and it has been so amazing to see people relating to it and loving it,” she admits.
“I just want a simple life,
“Not one I have to grow into,
“Firefly nights . . .
“Might not seem like much to you,
“I got nothing against money, fame . . .
Pretty things that shine,
But I just want a simple little life”
-- Simple Little Life, Sydney Lett
“I was sitting out on the front porch one morning watching my horses graze and was reminded at how beautiful and simple my life recently has been.” Syd says. “These days I split my time between Nashville and Mooresville, North Carolina, where I own and run Rustic Sage Farms. I currently care for horses, donkeys, goats, chickens, and an adorable sheep named Kevin. While the farm makes me happy, nothing brings me joy quite like the fans.
“Danny Rader, the 2016 Academy of Country Music’s “Specialty Musician of the Year” award-winner, and I ended up finishing writing this song and he brought it to life on the production side. We are so proud of it! We are still working on finishing my debut album and I’m so proud of the way it’s coming to life. Our goal is to release it later this year.”
“I think often of all the musicians and writers I’ve been able to collaborate with and who have played such a big part in making my music what it is. I’ve spent the last couple of years really trying to find myself as an artist and as a person. I am so grateful for so many people who have helped me not only find myself – but to find my way. Starting with my NASCAR family who I started with singing the national anthem at Iowa Speedway – with Kyle Petty!
“I’ve been doing my best to make sure these songs and stories are exactly what I want to say’” she continues. “[I can’t] forget the many afternoons cruising in my ’66 Mustang (Audrey) as she has been a huge source of inspiration. I think she feeds the songs to my soul somehow.
“Then there’s Jeff Hammond, a huge part of my team who has been a great friend and mentor for years, not only helping me with our rescue animals many times, but also helping me grow my career within the racing world while helping me become a better businesswoman in learning how to grow my career the way that I want to. And there’s TJ Jordi, who helped us with the logistics of starting our rescue, plus entertainers Blake Shelton, Diamond Rio, Terri Clark, Jerrod Niemann, Rodney Atkins, Gretchen Wilson, Jon Pardi, Joe Nichols, Lonestar, Sammy Kershaw, Ricochet, Leann Rimes, the iconic Cash family -- and so many more!”
“Hold on to this day like it’s all we have,
Knowing someday that we’ll want to go back,
Chasing the moon ‘till we find the sun,
Never want to forget how it feels to be young”
-- To Be Young. Vocals and Music by Sydney Lett
This Iowa girl’s heart will always be in the heartland with a “big Ford truck, two blue eyes and a cloud of dust.” Today, now more than ever, she’s a ray of sunshine strumming through the pastures of her North Carolina home. A voice as smooth as a glass of sweet ice tea at the end of a warm summer’s day, with a heart taller and deeper than the cornfields of her sun-kissed Iowa roots.
"It's OK to feel a bit small staring at the Gulf of Mexico,
It's OK to be knee-high when grandpa hands you a fishing pole,
When it's quiet, you be loud.
Just let your roots grow out
Because in this big ole' world you should be proud . . .
To be from somewhere little girl”
-- Little Girl, Sydney Lett
Sydney Lett’s music invites you to close your eyes and allow her words to carry you along on your own journey. To the simple things we’ve all but forgotten in our rush to move forward. To family and friends, and memories kept in old shoeboxes.
“My goal is to be the best person that I can be, to love people and to help them on their journey because I have had so many people that have done that for me,” she exclaims. “I want to be that person for someone else.”
Her perspective echoes deeply every woman’s inner diary. From heartbreaks to new heartbeats, Lett plucks gently on the strings of her lipstick-red guitar leaving nothing but soft footprints across the fields of our lives and the distinct confident scent of a woman who has found her way in the world, without ever losing sight of home. Indeed, this Iowa born Mustang lover is “Country Strong and Ford Tough.” (Look for Sydney Lett to be featured at upcoming Mustang events sometime next year.)
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY MORGAN BARFIELD – DARE VISUAL MEDIA
