inger-songwriter Jeni Hackett, fresh off her 2023 Times News Readers’ Choice Awards win for best local band/musician, plans to release her long-delayed third album in 2024.

Hackett, raised and currently residing in Brodheadsville, recorded “Black and Blue” in 2006, “but I wasn’t happy with the result. I couldn’t go back into the studio to fix it, because it had closed. So, I sat on the project for years due to the fact that life got in the way.

“I got married, bought a house and had a daughter,” continued Hackett, also a member of Lehigh Valley-based SteelCreek Band. “I kept performing live with the band at that point. I didn’t have the time or money to head back into a new studio to finish the record. The COVID break got me back into a new studio to finish up.”

Hackett, set to unveil “Black and Blue” in the spring or summer, released the albums “Gravity” in 2001 and “Right Before My Eyes” in 2003.

In 2002, she graduated from East Stroudsburg University with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education.

How it started

The Long Island, New York-born singer, a fourth-grade math teacher for Pleasant Valley School District, started playing music during her sophomore year at PV High School.

“I broke a bone in my knee and was super bored. A friend brought over his guitar and a Beatles music book. He taught me how to read the finger chord charts. I taught myself from there. Thank goodness I was blessed with a singing voice to go with the guitar.”

During her senior year of high school, one of Hackett’s teachers, who owned a coffee shop in Scranton, convinced her to perform at the venue one night.

“I drove up with a bunch of friends and family and played my first public show,” Hackett said. “I was very into the female singers of the ’90s: Jewel, Sarah McLachlan, Sheryl Crow. But I also liked playing oldies tunes, too.”

Perfecting her genre

Hackett’s music could fall into the folk and Americana categories, though

“I think I bring a lot of different genres into my original music. I perform a lot of cover tunes and they are all over the place as far as genres go: country, folk, pop, oldies.”

Among original songs Hackett has recorded, “I love ‘To Run Free’ That’s one of my favorites to listen to. I love performing my original songs ‘Stupid Me’ and ‘A Girl and her Guitar.’ My favorite covers to perform are ‘Jolene’ by Dolly Parton and ‘Foolish Games’ by Jewel.”

Performing

SteelCreek Band, for which Hackett sings and plays guitar and mandolin, was “my first and only band. My uncle was a keyboard player in a five-piece country band in 2004 and the lead singer quit. The band needed a frontman. He talked me into listening and learning a few country tunes. I had never been into country music before, but I gave it a shot.”

Formed as a six-piece band in 2005, SteelCreek played its first show in November 2005. Hackett, the band’s last original member, also performs as part of the SteelCreek Trio with Ken Duncan on bass and Guy Reed on percussion. She and Duncan also perform as a duo.

The trio formed, Hackett said, to play more acoustic music for smaller venues unable to hold a larger band.

“The trio plays more of a mix of music, including some of my original tunes. We have a 200-song list that we pass out at shows and people can request tunes off that. The six-piece band is mostly country cover tunes.”

Where to see her

Hackett’s busy performance schedule includes upcoming solo gigs at the Downtown Allentown Market on Saturday and the Monroe County Hospice House Telethon on Sunday. The latter will air on Blue Ridge Cable Channel 13.

In addition, she has numerous local and regional shows with SteelCreek Band, along with duo and trio gigs.

Unlike when she started performing 20-plus years ago, “there are a ton of live music venues in the area,“ Hackett said. “COVID was horrible for musicians, but it did allow for a lot of new outdoor patios and decks to open. A lot of them now want live entertainment.”

Furthermore, “there are also a lot of wineries and breweries that have opened in recent years and they also host a lot of live music, too.”

Hackett, who loves trying out new places with new crowds, hopes she’s able to do just that one day at Bethlehem’s Musikfest, one of her bucket-list venues.

“I’ve been playing in and around the area for over 20 years and I just have not been able to get my foot in the door there, as a solo or band act.”

Getting her foot in the door at some outlets, along with getting her name out there, has “been one of the biggest hurdles to get over,” she added.

Hackett’s musical milestones thus far include opening for national acts such as Joe Nichols, The Weight Band, Confederate Railroad and The Bacon Brothers, not to mention her recent Readers’ Choice award. The latter was her first win in as many nominations.

“I was shocked. With the competition I was in with, I never dreamed I would be winning this award. A big thank you to everyone who took the time to vote.”