Megan Thieman won Recovery Idol on Sept. 19 at Wichita’s Century II singing “Want To” by Sugarland. It was the same song she last sang in a bar before she got sober.
The win came with $1,000 and a paid trip to West Virginia to record an original song. On Oct. 24, Thieman will perform and share her testimony at the first PraiseFest in Fort Scott’s Gunn Park.
The festival raises money for Core Community - Bourbon County, a program that helps residents work their way out of poverty. Thieman said Core has been part of her recovery since she arrived in Fort Scott.
“It was not just Deana [Betts], but the Core community that really helped me get to where I’m at,” Thieman said.
Thieman, an Iola native who now lives in Pittsburg, started singing at 13 after she moved in with her grandmother. Her grandmother took her to church, where Thieman spent more than a decade on the praise and worship team, seven years of it as lead singer.
Thieman said her grandmother’s advice helped her get past stage fright. She has carried it into sharing her recovery story.
“She would be like, ‘Well, you know, nobody cares about hearing you when you’re up there. Everybody wants to hear God through you,’” Thieman said.
Her addiction came later, and during those years she sang in bars. In January, her first sponsor arranged a place for her at the Redemption House, a faith-based recovery home in Fort Scott run by Jenni Simhiser.
Thieman moved in on Jan. 8. She said she feared recovery would mean giving up singing because so much of it had happened in bars.
Then she saw a Recovery Idol audition flier on Facebook while sitting at the table with Simhiser, who told her to try out. The competition was hosted by CrossOver Recovery Center, part of the Substance Abuse Center of Kansas.
Thieman said about 40 people auditioned and eight were chosen to compete. At her audition, a judge asked her to sing the song a second time after taking a breath and relaxing.
She performed seventh on competition night. Before she went on, she said, Jimmy McGill, the evening’s speaker and one of the judges, saw that she was shaking and offered to pray with her.
“It was like an overwhelming calmness that washed over me,” Thieman said. “And I walked out there like I owned the stage.”
Thieman said she told the audience before she sang where she had been nine months earlier.
“Nine months ago you would have found me singing this song in a bar,” she said. “But, you know, here I am today, real raw and ready to perform for you guys.”
When she drank, Thieman said, she would take off her glasses before singing so she could not see if people were laughing at her. She kept them on at Recovery Idol.
“It was a feeling of like, I’m in recovery and I can still do what I love to do,” she said.
McGill provided the first-place prize, a trip to West Virginia to record a song with Ben Lerner, a musician who has been sober since June 13, 2016, according to his Facebook page. Thieman said Lerner is writing the music, and a recording date has not been set.
The song will focus on breaking the cycle of addiction so it is not passed down to the next generation, she said. Thieman has an 8-year-old daughter.
“I don’t want her thinking that the way I’ve done things is the way it should be done,” Thieman said.
Thieman will mark one year sober on Christmas. Her daughter keeps her recovery key tags on a keychain on her backpack.
Thieman said people have told her American Idol should be her next step. She said she is keeping her focus on recovery.
“The moment I give myself an excuse to stop focusing on my recovery is the moment that I will go back to using,” she said. “And I don’t want what I love to do to be that excuse.”
Redemption House residents are required to take Core classes. Thieman met Deana Betts, Core’s Southeast Kansas regional coordinator, at her first class in January.
Core classes meet weekly and include a free meal and free child care. Betts said many people are unsure what to expect when they first walk in.
“We pride ourselves on just no judgment, come as you are, tell us your story,” Betts said.
Thieman no longer attends classes since moving to Pittsburg, but she said she still calls Betts and Core coach Jalaine Myers when she needs help. She said the relationships have lasted.
“It’s long-term friendships and bonds, you know, people who are gonna love you regardless,” Thieman said.
When Betts began planning the PraiseFest lineup, she said, Thieman kept coming to mind. Betts called her about a week after Thieman learned she had made Recovery Idol.
“She screamed at me on the phone laughing,” Betts said.
Thieman takes the PraiseFest stage at 5 p.m. Oct. 24, with a set that moves between parts of her story and songs connected to them. Christian recording artist Tasha Layton headlines at 6 p.m.
