This Eastern Kentucky musician joined a website. Now she’s singing in a Hollywood movie

With hopes of landing background vocals or demo work to help pay bills while being sidelined from performing during the COVID pandemic, Corbin-based country artist Sydney Adams created an account on SoundBetter, a music-talent marketplace website that connects artists and labels with top industry professionals worldwide.

Little did she know it would lead her to Hollywood.

Adams’ work is featured on the soundtrack for “Adventures of the Naked Umbrella,” a film starring Taryn Manning (known for “Orange is the New Black”), Jeremy Davies (“Saving Private Ryan”) and Tom Arnold (“True Lies”) that opened at the box office on Nov. 10. In the action adventure and comedy mash-up about a conspiracy theorist searching for the truth after his trailer home explodes, Adams is heard performing “Small Town Girl”, an original song from film composer Jeff Victor.

“I recorded the song where I’ve always gone to record, Gem City Studios (in Jellico, Tenn.) with Matt McQueen,” says Adams. “We had Jeff present through a video chat giving us his input and were able to knock the whole thing out in a couple of hours. Jeff was very particular about what he wanted the song to sound like and I was glad to be able to deliver for him. This was difficult for me to do because I was stepping outside of my comfort zone, but I couldn’t be happier with how it all came together.”

Further stepping outside of her comfort zone of Eastern Kentucky, Adams recently flew out to Los Angeles, where she observed skateboarders and street painters at Venice Beach and participated in the red carpet premiere of the movie at the historic Regency Village Theatre on Nov. 9. While there she was able to converse and rub shoulders with Manning, Arnold, Richard Riehle and other cast from the film, leaving her starstruck throughout she said. Despite having no idea what to expect, she was excited to take part.

“I’d never done a red carpet before so when I was asked if I wanted to be a part of it I couldn’t turn it down,” says Adams. “I thought I’d just be walking down the carpet, have a couple photos taken and go about my business, but I also ended up getting interviewed about four times in 30 seconds. It was very rapid fire and I had no idea what was going to happen.”

After no work came her way on SoundBetter for months, Adams began to move on until she received a phone call this past April that caught her by surprise.

“The call was from a number I didn’t have saved so I thought it was a scam,” explains Adams. “When I reluctantly answered a guy asked if I was Sydney Adams the country singer and that he found my account that I’d pretty much forgotten about. After realizing that him and the movie were legit, I quickly got on board with the idea.”

Her big screen debut is just the latest accomplishment for Adams, who also opened a show for “American Idol” winner and Louisa-native Noah Thompson in June and performed the National Anthem ahead of UK’s football game against Akron in September. Following the success of 2019’s “Always Home To Me” EP, she’s been a Kentucky-born musician to watch out for.

Adams’ is hopeful that her appearance in “Adventures of the Naked Umbrella” will not only raise the profile of her music, but also present more future opportunities in film, such as having an original song of hers included on a soundtrack.

“Now that I have my foot in the door I feel something like that is extremely doable,” says Adams. “If you would’ve asked me a year ago what my goals were, I don’t think that being on a movie soundtrack would’ve been anywhere on my list, but now that I know it’s possible I’m determined to make it happen.”