SONGS from the heart

Jamie Wyman wants to make people cry, but not in a bad way.

As an aspiring professional songwriter, it’s her job to tell people’s stories, and sometimes that touches all kinds of emotional chords.

“You dig deep with them, and it’s empowering for them,” Wyman said about her wide range of clients.

One of the most poignant songs the 36-year-old Kalispell native has written was one that gave voice to a cancer patient.

“When someone is sick, no one knows what to say,” Wyman pointed out, explaining how the cancer patient, a personal friend, told her she couldn’t figure out what people meant when they told her she was “being strong.”

“What does being strong mean,” her friend wondered. Wyman contemplated that question, and wrote the lyrics exploring the dynamics of living with cancer.

Another song was commissioned by three siblings for their mother’s 75th birthday.

“All three described their mom differently, so my writing was based on their [combined] perspectives,” she said. “So far there have been tears involved” with nearly every song she’s written.

Wyman writes songs for birthdays, catchy marketing jingles for businesses, love songs for weddings or tunes for any other special occasion.

THE IDEA of making a living at songwriting for such a diverse clientele wasn’t something Wyman ever expected, but in retrospect all of the paths she’s taken in life were leading her toward a career in music.

After graduating from Flathead High School in 1999, Wyman headed to St. Cloud State University in Minnesota with the notion of a career in travel and tourism. That idea was fairly short-lived, and she switched her studies to psychology and French instead, and earned degrees in both subjects.

“I thought about being a clinical psychologist, but I wanted to do something more active,” she recalled.

The next path led her to the University of Arizona, where she earned a master’s degree in women’s studies and a law degree. From Arizona she moved to Kentucky “for a relationship,” she said, and completed an internship with the Jefferson County Prosecutor’s Office in Louisville.

She had done advocacy work for sexual assault survivors during her college years and remembers thinking, “I wanted more power to help them.”

During her four years in Kentucky she worked as a supervisor of a legal justice team for a women’s center, a job that required her to work with law enforcement and the court system. But the relationship that had turned into a marriage eventually turned into a divorce. She also found herself bullied by her boss, so she quit, packed her bags and headed back to the Flathead Valley in 2011.

Wyman got a job with Child Protective Services in Kalispell as a child protection specialist, a job that required investigating various kinds of alleged abuse.

“It was the hardest job I’ll ever have,” she said.

AFTER A year and a half as an investigator, she left that post and turned her focus to music.

“I had always wanted to sing, but I was shy and also usually busy,” she said.

While she worked a 9-to-5 job at a real estate office, Wyman began inching her way into music. She joined a band for fun, started writing her own music, performed at open mic nights.

Wyman had played the piano as a youngster, but now was compelled to relearn her keyboard skills.

“I just started playing the ukulele a couple months ago — I love that,” she said. “I love writing lyrics and songs … I’ve been wanting to combine the passions of helping people with music.”

Wyman attended a conference in San Jose, California, earlier this year and became acquainted with a man who writes custom songs.

“He had a 6-month waiting list for songs,” she noted.”He showed me it’s possible.”

She also gleaned from her new acquaintance that he’d found a niche writing songs for nonprofit fundraisers.

“Songs can pull at the heartstrings,” she added, explaining the effectiveness at tailoring lyrics to a specific organization.

It turns out Wyman’s senior project for her psychology degree was a serendipitous endeavor. She wrote about how to pull memories out of people, “how we remember things.”

By drawing on all of her education, Wyman is inching ever closer to a full-time career in music. She still has a part-time job as a waitress, but is developing more avenues for songwriting she hopes will catapult her fully into a music career.

Learn more about Jamie Wyman Music at www.jamiewymanmusic.com or email hello@jamiewymanmusic.com. Wyman also is on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.