Jamie Wyman Band creates narrative driven rock opera

Whitefish singer songwriter Jamie Wyman is preparing to release a new album this fall, a 22-track rock opera that’s been in the works the last two years titled “Return to the Mothership.”  

Wyman has been playing music for more than a decade, but in many ways is just getting started with her unique folk-rock sound and songbird voice. After a career as a social worker, Wyman said she found a new path as a musician and has been pouring her heart into writing and performing ever since.  

Wyman’s new album “Return to the Mothership” is a story, meant to be listened to from start to finish, but listeners can expect to enjoy the songs on their own as well. She said the narrative follows the heroine’s journey, with each song coinciding with a card from the Major Arcana in Tarot. She said it’s a soundtrack for women who are trying to make the world a better place. 

"There’s ups and downs of doing that. Based on my own experience doing social work ... one minute you're like, ‘Yes, we're going to do something and it’s going to be great!’ And then the next minute, it's like, ‘What am I doing here? Why is this so hard?’” Wyman said.  

Overcoming hardship is at the center of Wyman’s songwriting. She likes to take an emotional experience and turn it into a message of hope.  One of her early songs came to her after a hard day as a social worker with state Child Protective Services. She saved a baby’s life that day and came home overwhelmed, looking to pour the emotions into song.  

“I got home and this song just came out of me. It was either that or tears, probably just because I was exhausted. That was one of the first songs I wrote, it was called, ‘Keep asking why?’ Why don't your parents want to pay attention to you? Let’s keep asking until we find out what's going on here. Sort of insofar for that child, but also for all the children that are being neglected,” Wyman said.  

Wyman said even though it took her a while to get back to music, it’s always been something she enjoyed. Born and raised in Kalispell, she learned piano from her grandmother. She went back to relearn piano after she decided to start pursuing music as an adult, later teaching herself how to play the ukelele and guitar. She found her first band through a Craigslist ad.  

The ad said if you like Janice Joplin and Bonnie Raitt and you think you have a pretty good voice, even if you don’t have experience, let us know.  

"And I was like, ‘That is written for me,’” Wyman said. 

Her first band, Sun Raven Band, helped her get through the time she spent with CPS, a rewarding but emotionally heavy job.  

They started out performing songs written by others in the band, but as she continued to sing, Wyman started getting song ideas of her own. She pulls inspiration from all kinds of places, with lyrics and melody coming to her first in the songwriting process.  

Wyman spoke about her song “Spinning Out” off her recent EP “Magic Potion.” She said she wrote it after lying in bed for days, suffering from vertigo.  

"The world was crazy as it usually is, and can also kind of feel like vertigo, like one minute you're okay, and then all of a sudden everything spins. It's such a good metaphor for life--- you think you're good (then you’re not) so it says, ‘Please find me the magic potion, too much movement with no motion, please find me the magic potion,’” she said. 

On her new album, “Return to the Mothership,” Wyman’s songwriting skills are on full display. She said The Moon card in Tarot corresponds to the song “Secrets from Beyond the Veil,” written for her aunt.  

“My aunt passed away a couple years ago. She passed at like nine o'clock in the morning, but I think her spirit probably left in the middle of the night because I woke up at 1:30 a.m. with a song, and I had to get out of bed and record this thing in my head,” Wyman said.  

She was with her aunt in her last lucid moments when she said something that surprised Wyman.  

“She was not a very positive person most of the time ... But in her last moments, she was like, ‘Maybe this is a good time to go, because there's so much love here.’ And it was just this super powerful moment,” Wyman said. “So that’s paired with The Moon, which is about what’s helping you or what’s hindering you from your shadow. Anytime someone passes away, we get this like renewed sense of ‘We got to live, we have to live while we're here.’”  

Wyman expects to play a few local shows this summer but will be focusing on finishing up the album to be released in the fall. She said she plans to tour when the album comes out. 

Get a sneak peek of “Return to the Mothership” by attending Wyman’s Daily Inter Lake Press Play concert on May 2, starting at noon.   

Tickets are available at FlatheadTickets.com or by calling 406-758-4436. The performance will be live streamed on the Daily Inter Lake Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube pages.  

For more information about the Jamie Wyman Band, visit jamiewymanband.com/.  

Reporter Taylor Inman can be reached by emailing tinman@dailyinterlake.com.