Track 01 · The Album

Same Small Corner

"We were two kids in the same small town. Just took the long way home."

Lyrics

Verse 1

She was a Naples girl, doors all open wide
Spent her summers in the yard
He was a Moyie boy, raised on lake water
Workin' alongside his brothers from the start

Pre-Chorus

Same dirt roads, same starlit sky
He'd been by her place a hundred times
Even remembered the goats in the yard
But neither one of 'em was lookin' yet

Chorus

Same small corner of North Idaho
Same back roads, same big blue sky
We were two kids in the same small town
Just took the long way home
Just took the long way home

Verse 2

He was at his best friend's house most every week
She was at that same place too
Just a county road and a fence line between us
Two kids waitin' on the right time

Pre-Chorus

Same dirt roads, same starlit sky
Closer than we ever knew
There's a thousand ways to almost meet
And we tried 'em all the long way through

Chorus

Same small corner of North Idaho
Same back roads, same big blue sky
We were two kids in the same small town
Just took the long way home
Just took the long way home

Bridge

There's a thousand back roads in this part of Idaho
We must've crossed a hundred times
But the story doesn't start 'til the story's ready to start
And ours was takin' its time
Yeah, ours was takin' its time

Chorus

Same small corner of North Idaho
Same back roads, same big blue sky
We were two kids in the same small town
Just took the long way home
Just took the long way home

Outro

Now we drive these same back roads
Headlights on, windows down
The long way found us anyway
And the long way is home now
The long way is home now

The Story Behind the Song

Two stories, takin' their time.

For years, Mallory and Kayle lived inside the same small radius of North Idaho without ever quite meeting. Her neighbor was his good friend. He visited that friend's house constantly, and Mallory was right next door. He remembers her goats. They were close enough that they probably passed each other on the same county roads on more than one summer afternoon, walking the fence line or drifting home before the bugs came out.

But the timing wasn't right. The story doesn't start until the story's ready to start, and theirs was taking its time.

"Same Small Corner" is the proximity opener. Same dirt roads, same starlit sky, two kids waiting on the right time. The song lives in the years before they knew, and the outro flips it. The same back roads that kept them apart are now the roads they drive together. The long way is home now.