Jeni Hackett had turned something bad into something good.

Stuck in bed for an entire summer with a broken bone in her knee that needed months to heal, the then Pleasant Valley sophomore started to “mess around” with a guitar and a book of Beatles’ music chords before putting the music to accompany her singing voice.

“I had always loved to sing,” said the Pleasant Valley fourth grade teacher.

Hackett kids that her “formal” voice training was singing Fleetwood Mac songs in the car.

“With so much time being bed-bound, and when I couldn’t do anything outside the house, I taught myself how to play the guitar,” she said, “and then I just started to sing along to the music.”

A resident of Brodheadsville, Hackett’s first gig was in a coffee shop in Scranton owned by a friend.

“Of course, I was scared to death,” she said with a laugh.

From there, while attending East Stroudsburg University in 2000, she sang at open mic events along the Main Street circuit. As her notoriety increased, so did her opportunities to perform. She became recognized as a singer/songwriter who played folk and country sounds with covers of popular songs and a few original songs, as well.

“Life doesn’t not jump out of the way just because you want to be a concert performer,” she said. “I have my job, my marriage with Eric and our 4-year-old daughter. Still, the passion is strong so I find time to rehearse and to create my own songs.”

Within the long list of festivals and venues from which Hackett, the winner of the 2023 Times News Readers’ Choice Award for Best Musician, has entertained audiences includes Coca-Cola Park, Camelback Mountain, Mount Airy Casino, and Pocono Raceway. She has a five-piece band called SteelCreek.

Together, they perform country and pop rock, doing their originals and cover songs of artists like Lady Antebellum, Elton John, Elvis Presley and The Eagles. The band is adaptable to play as a trio with Hackett at smaller venues.

“The largest crowd we played for was at ‘A Night in the Country’ festival in New Tripoli. The audience would have filled an entire football field.”

Her favorite song is “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” by Lainey Wilson, a ballad about a hard-living woman who sings, “I’m four-fifths of reckless and one fifth of Jack. I push like a daisy through old sidewalk cracks …”

In the past month Hackett and her band has released their third album, “Black and Blue,” which she describes as “Americana folk rock.”

Her theme song reveals the tragedy of lost and abusive love. “What is love through these eyes because right now, she only sees in black and blue,” Hackett said.

Recently, she entered the ABE Idol contest, sponsored by the Lehigh Valley International Airport. She had to submit a 2-minute performance video to qualify and then perform live at the Allentown Fair with the other finalists. The winner was to be selected by popular vote.

“I love singing Fleetwood Mac songs, especially ‘Landslide,’ which I performed at the fair,” she said. “I also sang ‘Come to My Window’ and ‘Jolene.’ ”

After the votes were tallied, Hackett was announced as the winner of the ABE Idol Contest. “I was thrilled, and my prize was three nights and four days with expenses paid to Nashville.”

Asked if had she had aspirations to become a national performance star, she did not hesitate with her answer: “I love what I’m doing now. I enjoy cruising the areas where we perform. I love my family life and my teaching. I don’t have a bigger dream, but if something came along, I’d consider it.”

Jeni Hackett and the SteelCreek Band are scheduled to perform 18 concerts in September in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and at the Octoberfest in Bethlehem on Oct. 5 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.