It’s a long way from national television exposure to working construction.

And it’s going to be equally as tough regaining what she lost when she made it to the final four on Canadian Idol, says Suzi Rawn.

But she’s determined to do it.

The woman so many Kamloopsians cheered on when she took centre stage in Idol four years ago says now all she wants is a full-time job to pay the bills.

She works with Lee’s Music as a vocal coach a couple of nights a week, but has supported herself and her six-year-old daughter by working construction, landscaping and other labour jobs.

“I didn’t do music at all [for two years] after Idol and I discovered that’s who I am and that’s what I have to do.

“But, right now, I’m working on finding a job to pay the bills.”

Idol was a machine filled with hype, Rawn says, acknowledging she got caught up in it.

After all, it could have been her ticket to the big time.

Instead, she watched as her Kamloops band fell apart and her fiance left her.

“Everything collapsed,” Rawn says.

She wasn’t really happy with the CD she released after her time on Idol, acknowledging it wasn’t reflective of the real Suzi.

“But I could have said no. I didn’t.”

When the big lights refocused on other Idol participants, Rawn found herself at a place she hadn’t expected — alone.

She moved in with her dad, Bill, and says for two years, she just couldn’t even think about making music again.

During that time, she says she “discovered that’s who I am and that’s what I have to do.

“I have to do my music.”

She’s started back slowly, singing national anthems at Kamloops Storm hockey games and a few times for the Kamloops Blazers.

Bill has helped her recover her musical footings, she says, and now father and daughter perform together.

They took their act on the road in the summer, heading east to perform at a couple of family weddings and lining up some gigs along the way to pay for the trip.

They busked, sang in pubs, at dances.

“Anywhere we could. It was a good tour,” Rawn says.

The duo play acoustic sets, performing half original songs and half covers of songs done by musicians like Janis Joplin, Neil Young and Cat Stevens.

They’ve done some gigs in local pubs, with the next one coming up on Oct. 17 at the Rock’N Firkin, 726 Sydney Ave.

Rawn says she’s still writing songs — lots of them — and “playing music for the love of it and nothing else.”

Her songs tend to be written “sort of sad, but that’s my life. It’s always been like that.

“Things happen and you deal with them.”

She’s looking for a band again, but says it can’t just be a group of musicians.

“It’s got to be a family.”

She’s grateful for the support she continues to receive in Kamloops, from getting gigs in local bars to people on the street stopping her to tell them they’re a fan.

When they ask if she would do Canadian Idol again, knowing what she does now about how the hype and hoopla can turn a life topsy-turvy, Rawn says she never knows what to say.

“Every experience has its good points and its bad points,” she says, “and I learned a lot then.”

What she’s learned through the exposure and, in many ways, through the many experiences she’s had in her life comes out in her songwriting, she says.

“You take the bad, and you turn it into something good.”

To hear samples of music by Bill and Suzi Rawn, go online to myspace.com/inentertainment.