Note from Justin~

"I wrote Alleyways around 1995 and it is a song about the alleys of Missoula. At the time, I was managing a photo lab in downtown Missoula and taking classes at the University part time. A writing assignment for one of my classes partially inspired this song as did the alley I traveled from my house to downtown multiple times every day. The sights and sounds along the way are all in the song - the barking dog in the chain link fence, the dumpster I used to pull whole bouquets of flowers out of for female friends I was on my way to meet that night (until they put a lock on the dumpster), the back door of a friend's house, etc. Mostly, though, this is an anti-hero tune about myself at that time. I was very insecure about myself and I guess I have always been a bit shy and antisocial in my personal life. The writing assignment had me writing about why I would rather travel the alleys in life instead of walking on the main streets. Partially because I was very insecure at that time, but mostly because there are much more interesting things to see in peoples' back yards. The fronts we all put up often do not display the garbage and broken down stuff of our psyche. Those aspects are much more interesting to me. Finally, there is a saying about the friendships we have with people who are comfortable coming to the back door instead of presenting themselves at the front door always tend to be the much more comfortable and more enjoyable friendships. I hope you enjoy this song. A solo acoustic version I recorded once was very popular on the local college radio station for several weeks in 1997-98. I hope that it will please new audiences (and old friends) when the new CD is released."

-Feb. 10, 2004